53.0°,
Partly Cloudy Leaving their Italian homeland
Looking for a better life in America
My family’s story is similar to many Italian Americas living here. My mother and father’s families are from San Donato Cal di Comino in the Frosinone southeast province of Rome. My wife’s family is from a nearby town called Sora. Both of our families came to the United because every family had the same problems — and they left their homeland to come to America, not knowing the language or the land, traveling on a boat for more than a week, arriving at Ellis Island in New York.
My mother was born in New York after her parents came from Italy by boat. Her parents were not American citizens yet. My mother returned to Italy when she was older and meet my father and raised their families here. My in-laws were both born in Italy. My wife’s brother and sister were born in Italy.
My father is a retired tailor. He learned his trade in Italy, and became the head of alterations of the largest men’s store in the world, Barney’s in Manhattan — so if you purchased a fine suit at Barney’s, then most probably my father directed its alternation.He is one of the few tailors left that uses an iron to press garments that was heated by hot coals, or who knows how to hand-stitch a jacket.
My mother was born in America at the site of the Lincoln Center in Manhattan. Her first language was Italian. She worked many jobs, from an old-fashioned New York Telephone Company operator to a Solgar vitamin bottle filler.
My wife, Loreta and I met in Manhattan, and it was love at first sight. Her father was a mason contractor whose company helped erect some of the most popular buildings in Rochester, such as IBM and Xerox. My wife’s mother works in the public school lunch system.
I often wonder, “What if our families stayed in Italy — what would our lives be like now? Would we have made the same decision in leaving our families for the New World?”
We live with our daughter, Gabriella, in East Rockaway, and she attends public school. I hope she will continue the traditions of Italy as she grows up. The Italians have given so much to America in every shape and form. Look in the phone book and see how many Italian restaurants there are — and I bet they’re all crowded at dinnertime! I am proud to be and American of Italian descent.
