Between and , almost two million Italians emigrated to America , most arriving in New York. Most Italian immigrants came from southern Italy and were contadini landless farmers fleeing severe poverty. Some of the earliest arrivals were men seeking work and intending to return home to their families with their earnings which they often did. Men were sometimes recruited by padroni labor brokers , who paid their passage, food, and lodging and hired them out as work gangs pocketing most of the wages.
Having little education, many Italian men found work as laborers, digging ditches, paving roads, and building projects like the Brooklyn Bridge , the subway, and Grand Central Terminal. Some created small businesses as street vendors, grocers, and barbers. Italian women and girls often worked in the garment industry. Like most immigrants facing language and cultural barriers, the Italians created ethnic enclaves.
Elizabeth Street was strictly Sicilian, and each block even tenement was inhabited by a specific Sicilian town. The tight-knit Italian American communities given the confined housing and crowded streets, they had to be close focused on fundamental traditions of family, food, and faith. Cultural conflicts sometimes arose with other immigrants, specifically when they were forced to share churches with Irish Catholics.
Faced with considerable discrimination and poverty, Italian communities formed mutual aid societies, as well as clubs focused on culture particularly music and opera , and organizations to stage religious festivals. Less benevolent organizations were the crime syndicates of La Cosa Nostra , which were based on Sicilian secret societies. Italian immigrants dreamed of escaping the decrepit tenements and teeming streets of their neighborhoods, and throughout the 20th century their descendants did just that.
Though few Italians reside in the old neighborhoods of Little Italy, Greenwich Village, and Italian Harlem, vestiges of Italian immigrant culture can be found. Specifically, a smattering of family-fun ristorantes, food shops, and cafes have survived that are well worth a visit. The neighborhoods also host traditional Italian festivals. The intimate space displays belongings of neighborhood families, offering a glimpse of daily immigrant life and important local occasions.
New York Italians is an organization dedicated to preserving and celebrating Italian culture with events, culinary programs, language classes, and educational lectures. Their Meet-up group is active and a great way to join the fun. All the Piccola Cucina locations in New York , Montana and Ibiza evoke and respect the flavors and taste of an authentic but modern Sicilian cuisine.
Fresh ingredients, both locally sourced and imported from Italy, pay tribute to the opulence of Sicilian food. Since its opening in , the Sicilian Alaimo family served only the finest Italian cookies, pastries and cakes. This was also the first local to explain the differences between an authentic cannoli and other lesser re-interpreted versions.
The Bounty of Sicily's Sicani Mountains. La Cucina Italiana edition:. Menu Authentic Italian Cooking since the s Search. Italian food All Menu Italian dishes How to cook hacks. Good Mood. Newsletter subscription. After many American imitations over the years, the real thing is back at these authentically Sicilian spots around town.
Cannoli by Unico, NYC. Cannoli by Norma, NYC. Cannoli by Villabate, NYC. Get fresh Italian recipes and food news every day! Daily La Cucina Italiana Newsletter. Weekly New York Edition.
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