Italian Culture

By Haley Harper

Italy is a country with a very short history, shorter than the United States itself. Italy didn’t become a country until the year 1861. Italians immigrated to the United States, mainly from southern Italy, because of the severe poverty being faced. Poverty in Italy came from the various natural disasters that happened in the early 1900s, including the Messina earthquake and the tidal waves that came after killing over 100,000 people. The Messina earthquake was recorded at 7.1 on the moment magnitude scale, and destroyed almost all of the buildings in the city of Messina. Not only were the natural disasters of Italy a reason to migrate but also the wages people received. In southern Italy alone, the highest wage per week for a carpenter was only $1.80, while in the United States the wage for a carpenter would have been around $18 a week. With a booming economy in the United States, and a declining one in Italy, the Italians only option were to immigrate into the United States.

When migrating over to the great United States, we were under construction in recovery of industrialization. Immigrants were looking for jobs which headed them north east for factory jobs and low wages, but more than they would make back home. Industrialization made immigration life that much easier for them to settle. Factory owners were looking for employees to work for low wages, which the Italians supplied. In event to immigration itself, the jobs were near major cities and made them flock to Chicago, Buffalo, Detroit, and Philadelphia. Italian immigrants were a major contributor of American history.

In the field of traditions, the Italians have it all: food, art, and even language. Italian cuisines are mostly simple meals with vegetables and spices. All throughout the country, wine, cheese and pasta are serious parts of their heritage. In Northern Italy, fish, potatoes, rice, sausage, pork and cheese are the most common ingredients. In the southern part, dishes are mostly accompanied by tomatoes, capers, peppers, olives/olive oil, garlic, artichokes, eggplant, and ricotta cheese. As you can see in today’s culture of America, there are many of these things on the menus. Art is also a key component of Italian history. It can be seen anywhere in the country. Some of the styles include classical Roman, Renaissance, Baroque and Neoclassical. The most famous piece of art is the Leaning Tower of Pisa. Italy is also home to many world known fashion industries: Prada, Armani, Gucci, Benetton, and Versace. Believe it or not, Italy has more than one language. Some include Sicilian, Venetian, Croatian, Greek, and Walser. During evolution, languages seemed to come up out of nowhere. Tuscan dialect has dominated all other dialects since Tuscany is in the center of Italy and because of the aggressive commerce of the most important city of Florence.

My great grandma Nonni, or Nonna in Italian, immigrated from the southern part of Italy in the 40's. Not quite during the immigration boom, but she made it here. Our family traditions include get-togethers during the summer and on major holidays. Usually in the summer, we eat bruschetta with cheese and for dinner something along the lines of hamburgers with pasta salad, baked beans, and for desert is some type of fruit. As a family, we cherish all the time together we can get, especially as our family is growing, and we're making our own traditions.