by Nicole Tadros The struggle immigrants have experienced has created one of the strongest threadsflowing all throughout the history of Americas culture. Specifically Italian Americans, who areone of the nation’s largest and oldest immigrant groups play a crucial role in building thatnarrative. Movies like Ask the Dust (Robert Towne, 2006) and Vendetta (Nicholas Meyer, 1999)depict…
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By Sophie Kochensparger How can you take your whole life and pack it into one piece of luggage? The short answer is: you can’t. From the year 1860 to 2011, a record of 29 million Italians left their homes in Italy and moved elsewhere. During the large period of migration to the United States…
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By:Chaney Bean America is as diverse of a land as they come. Within its borders are people from all walks of life. Their different ideas and traditions are constantly mixing to produce the unique culture found here. So, what does it mean to say someone is an “Italian American?” Truth be told, it looks…
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by Chaney Bean Today, Italian food can be found almost everywhere in the United States. From fine dining restaurants to local pizza spots, it has become a staple in the American diet. This was not always true and the road to get here was a hard one. It is thanks to the brave Italian immigrants…
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by Janice Therese Mancuso “An Italian discovered America; another Italian gave her his name; still another Italian first planted theEnglish flag on American soil and gave England her claim to North America and the American peopletheir first claim to independence; other Italians explored, or helped to explore, her coasts, from theAtlantic to the Gulf of…
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by Janice Therese Mancuso The legacy of Italians who contributed to the growth and prosperity of America is a significant part of American history, but often overlooked. Iconic products that symbolized American life – Zamboni, Radio Flyer, Tropicana, Planters Peanuts, Subway, Jeno’s – and concepts that improved American standards – Giannini’s bank, a Montessori education,…
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Interview by Jo Ann Cavallo, Columbia University On July 30, 2025, I had the pleasure of interviewing Janine Cortese Coyne about her work as curator of the Italian American Museum in New York City, including preparations for the museum’s permanent collection and current exhibits on the Manteo family’s Catanese-style Sicilian puppets and the S.S. Andrea…
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Daniele Fioretti Manuela Filomena is PhD candidate in Comparative Studies at Florida Atlantic University. I had the pleasure to watch her wonderful documentary My Florita, focused on the Italian American identity in South Florida, so I decided to interview her – and the producer Eufrasio Volpe – for the IAC website. Can you tell us…
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by Rosie Schuermann Dr. Dominic Rizzo’s Italian American journey began when he was just seven months oldwhen his family immigrated to the United States. HIs father’s family owned a multi-generationalbattery business in Italy that went out of business and sparked their move to the United States.Initially his family lived briefly in New York before moving…
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Interview by Jo Ann Cavallo, Columbia University On April 2, 2025, I had the privilege of interviewing Anna Lomax Wood about her experiences researching the musical traditions of Italian immigrants in the tri-state area (NY-NJ-CT) during the 1970s and 1980s, her involvement in various initiatives to document and support folk culture, as well as her…
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