Editing Italian Americans (section)

==History==
===Before 1880===
{{main|Italians in the United States before 1880}}
[[File:Ridolfo del Ghirlandaio - Ritratto di Cristoforo Colombo (1520).jpg|thumb|left|upright|The Italian explorer [[Christopher Columbus]] leads an expedition to the New World, 1492. [[Voyages of Christopher Columbus|His voyages]] are celebrated as the discovery of the Americas from a European perspective, and they opened a [[Early modern period|new era]] in the history of humankind and sustained contact between the two worlds.]]

Italian<ref>Though the modern state of Italy had yet to be established, the Latin equivalent of the [[Italians#Name|term Italian]] had been in use for natives of [[Italian geographical region|the region]] since antiquity. See [[Pliny the Elder]], ''[[Epistulae (Pliny)|Letters]]'' 9.23.</ref> navigators and explorers played a key role in the exploration and settlement of the Americas by [[Europeans]]. [[Genoa|Genoese]] explorer [[Christopher Columbus]] completed [[Voyages of Christopher Columbus|four voyages across the Atlantic Ocean]] for the [[Catholic Monarchs of Spain|Catholic monarchs of Spain]], opening the way for the widespread European [[Age of Discovery|exploration]] and [[European colonization of the Americas|colonization]] of the Americas. [[John Cabot]] and his son [[Sebastian Cabot (explorer)|Sebastian]] explored the [[East Coast of the United States|eastern seaboard of North America]] for [[Henry VII of England|Henry VII]] in the early 16th century. In 1524, the [[Florence|Florentine]] explorer [[Giovanni da Verrazzano]] was the first European to explore the Atlantic coast of North America between Florida and New Brunswick.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Greene |first=George Washington |author-link=George Washington Greene |url={{Google books|1qsuAAAAYAAJ|page=PA13|keywords=|text=|plainurl=yes}} |title=The Life and Voyages of Verrazzano |date=1837 |publisher=Folsom, Wells, and Thurston |location=Cambridge University |page=13 |access-date=August 18, 2017 |via=Google Books}}</ref> The Italian explorer [[Amerigo Vespucci]] first demonstrated in about 1501 that the New World was not Asia as initially conjectured but a different continent ([[Naming of the Americas|America]] is named after him).<ref name="Martone">{{Cite book |last=Martone |first=Eric |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=MHJ1DQAAQBAJ&pg=PA109 |title=Italian Americans: The History and Culture of a People |date=2016 |publisher=ABC-CLIO |isbn=978-1-6106-9995-2 |page=504}}</ref>

The first Italian to be registered as residing in the area corresponding to the current United States was [[Pietro Cesare Alberti]],<ref name=ItalianHistoricalPage>{{cite web|url=http://www.italianhistorical.org/page63.html|title=Peter Caesar Alberti|access-date=June 2, 2011|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150914161128/http://www.italianhistorical.org/page63.html|archive-date=September 14, 2015|url-status=dead}}</ref> a Venetian seaman who, in 1635, settled in the [[Netherlands|Dutch]] colony of [[New Amsterdam]]. A small wave of Protestants, known as [[Waldensians]], immigrated during the 17th century, with the majority coming between 1654 and 1663.<ref>Memorials of the Huguenots in America, by Ammon Stapleton, page 42</ref> They spread out across what was then called [[New Netherland]] and what would become [[New York (state)|New York]], [[New Jersey]], and the Lower Delaware River regions.

[[Enrico Tonti]], together with the French explorer [[René-Robert Cavelier, Sieur de La Salle]], explored the [[Great Lakes region|Great Lakes]] region. De Tonti founded the first European settlement in [[Illinois]] in 1679 and in [[Arkansas]] in 1683, making him "The Father of Arkansas."<ref name=":15">{{Cite encyclopedia |url=https://encyclopediaofarkansas.net/entries/henri-de-tonti-2537/ |title=Henri de Tonti (1649–1704) |encyclopedia=[[Encyclopedia of Arkansas]] |year=2011|access-date=December 6, 2019}}</ref><ref name="HMdb">HMdb.org, "[https://www.hmdb.org/m.asp?m=109793 Henri de Tonti Historical Marker]", Natchitoches Parish, Louisiana. Retrieved August 9, 2009.</ref> With LaSalle, he co-founded [[New Orleans]] and was governor of the [[Louisiana Territory]] for the next 20 years. His brother [[Alphonse de Tonty]] (Alfonso de Tonti), with French explorer [[Antoine de la Mothe Cadillac]], was the co-founder of [[Detroit]] in 1701, and was its acting colonial governor for 12 years. The southwest and California were explored and mapped by Italian Jesuit priest [[Eusebio Kino]] in the late 17th and early 18th centuries.

The [[Taliaferro]] family, believed to have roots in [[Venice]], was one of the [[First Families of Virginia|First Families]] to settle [[Virginia]]; [[Richard Taliaferro]] designed much of [[Colonial Williamsburg]].<ref name="Wythe">{{cite web|url=http://www.history.org/almanack/people/bios/biowythe.cfm|title=Biography of George Wythe|access-date=October 7, 2017|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190528042040/http://www.history.org/almanack/people/bios/biowythe.cfm|archive-date=May 28, 2019}}</ref> The period from 1776 to 1880 saw a small stream of new arrivals from Italy. Some brought skills in agriculture and the making of glass, silk and wine, while others brought skills as musicians.<ref>Andrew F. Rolle, ''The immigrant upraised: Italian adventurers and colonists in an expanding America'' (U of Oklahoma Press, 1968).</ref> After American independence, numerous political refugees arrived, most notably [[Giuseppe Avezzana]], [[Alessandro Gavazzi]], [[Silvio Pellico]], [[Federico Confalonieri]], and [[Eleuterio Felice Foresti]]. [[Giuseppe Garibaldi]] resided in the United States in 1850–51.
[[File:Francevigovincennes.jpg|thumb|upright|Statue of [[Francesco Vigo]] in [[Vincennes, Indiana]], who aided the colonial forces of [[George Rogers Clark]] during the [[American Revolutionary War]]]]

In 1773–1785, [[Filippo Mazzei]], a close friend of [[Thomas Jefferson]], published a pamphlet containing the phrase, "All men are by nature equally free and independent,"<ref>Filippo Mazzei, ''[[The Virginia Gazette]]'', 1774. Translated by a friend and neighbor, Thomas Jefferson:<br>{{blockquote|''Tutti gli uomini sono per natura egualmente liberi e indipendenti. Quest'eguaglianza è necessaria per costituire un governo libero. Bisogna che ognuno sia uguale all'altro nel diritto naturale.''}}Translated by Jefferson as follow:{{blockquote|All men are by nature equally free and independent. Such equality is necessary in order to create a free government.<br> All men must be equal to each other in natural law}}</ref> which Jefferson incorporated essentially intact into the [[United States Declaration of Independence|Declaration of Independence]]. Italian Americans served in the [[American Revolutionary War]] both as soldiers and officers. [[Francesco Vigo]] aided the colonial forces of [[George Rogers Clark]] by serving as one of the foremost financiers of the Revolution in the frontier Northwest.

In 1789–91, [[Alessandro Malaspina]] mapped much of the [[West Coast of the United States|west coast of the Americas]]. In 1822–23, the headwater region of the [[Mississippi River|Mississippi]] was explored by [[Giacomo Beltrami]] in the territory that was later to become [[Minnesota]]. Missionaries of the [[Jesuit]] and [[Franciscan]] orders were active in many parts of America. Italian Jesuits founded numerous missions, schools, and two colleges in the west. [[John Nobili|Giovanni Nobili]] founded the Santa Clara College (now [[Santa Clara University]]) in 1851. The St. Ignatius Academy (now [[University of San Francisco]]) was established by [[Anthony Maraschi]] in 1855. The Italian Jesuits also laid the foundation for the [[winemaking]] industry that would later flourish in [[California]]. In the east, the Italian Franciscans founded hospitals, orphanages, schools, and St. Bonaventure College (now [[St. Bonaventure University]]), established by [[Pamfilo of Magliano|Pamfilo da Magliano]] in 1858. Las Vegas College (now [[Regis University]]) was established by a group of exiled Italian Jesuits in 1877 in [[Las Vegas]], New Mexico. The Jesuit [[Joseph Cataldo|Giuseppe Cataldo]], founded Gonzaga College (now [[Gonzaga University]]) in [[Spokane, Washington|Spokane]], Washington in 1887.

In 1801, [[Philip Trajetta]] established the nation's first conservatory of music in Boston.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://bostonhistorycollaborative.com/BostonFamilyHistory/ancestors/italian/ita_1750.html |title=BostonFamilyHistory.com – The Place to Meet Your Past |publisher=Bostonhistorycollaborative.com |access-date=August 10, 2014 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131004215733/http://bostonhistorycollaborative.com/BostonFamilyHistory/ancestors/italian/ita_1750.html |archive-date=October 4, 2013 |url-status=dead }}</ref> In 1805, Thomas Jefferson recruited a group of musicians from [[Sicily]] to form a military band, later to become the nucleus of the [[U.S. Marine Band]].<ref>http://article/italians-in-america-band-leaders-a173703 {{dead link|date=October 2017}}</ref> In 1833, [[Lorenzo Da Ponte]], formerly Mozart's librettist and a naturalized U.S. citizen, founded the first opera house in the United States, the Italian Opera House in New York City, which was the predecessor of the New York Academy of Music and of the [[Metropolitan Opera|New York Metropolitan Opera]].

[[Samuel Wilds Trotti]] of South Carolina was the first Italian American to serve in the [[United States Congress|U.S. Congress]] (a partial term, from December 17, 1842, to March 3, 1843).<ref>{{cite web|url=http://bioguide.congress.gov/scripts/biodisplay.pl?index=T000381|title=TROTTI, Samuel Wilds - Biographical Information|website=bioguide.congress.gov}}</ref> In 1849, Francesco de Casale began publishing the Italian American newspaper ''L'Eco d'Italia'' in New York, the first of many to eventually follow.

Beginning in 1863, Italian immigrants were one of the principal groups of unskilled laborers, along with the Irish, that built the [[Transcontinental railroad|Transcontinental Railroad]] west from [[Omaha, Nebraska|Omaha]], Nebraska.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.archives.gov/exhibits/treasures_of_congress/text/page15_text.html|title=The Transcontinental Railroad|website=Archives.gov|access-date=October 7, 2017}}</ref> The first [[Columbus Day]] celebration was organized by Italian Americans in New York City on October 12, 1866.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Día de la Raza – Viva Cuernavaca |url=http://universaldomainexchange.com/vivacue2/dia-de-la-raza/ |access-date=December 2, 2018 |website=universaldomainexchange.com |language=en-US}}</ref>

===Civil War===
{{Main|Italian Americans in the Civil War}}
[[File:March past of the 'Garibaldi Guard' before President Lincoln, 1861-1865 (c1880).jpg|thumb|Review of the [[Garibaldi Guard]] by President Lincoln]]

Between 5,000 and 10,000 Italian Americans fought in the [[American Civil War]].<ref>[http://www.niaf.org/research/contribution.asp NATIONAL ITALIAN AMERICAN FOUNDATION] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130520214950/https://www.niaf.org/research/contribution.asp |date=May 20, 2013 }} - Italian American Contributions.</ref> The great majority of Italian Americans, for both demographic and ideological reasons, were in the [[Union Army]], including [[Francis B. Spinola]], the first Italian American to be elected to the [[United States House of Representatives]], who served as a general. Some Americans of Italian descent from the disbanded [[Army of the Two Sicilies]], which was defeated by [[Giuseppe Garibaldi]] after the [[Expedition of the Thousand]], fought in the [[Confederate States Army|Confederate Army.]] They included Confederate generals [[William B. Taliaferro]] and [[P. G. T. Beauregard]].<ref name="PGT">{{cite book|first=T. Harry|last=Williams|title=P.G.T. Beauregard: Napoleon in Gray|year=1955|publisher=Louisiana State University Press|isbn=0-8071-0831-6|lccn=55-7362}}</ref> Six Italian Americans received the [[Medal of Honor]] during the war, including Colonel [[Luigi Palma di Cesnola]], who later became the first director of the [[Metropolitan Museum of Arts]] in New York (1879–1904).

The [[Garibaldi Guard]] recruited volunteers for the Union Army from Italy and other European countries to form the [[39th New York Volunteer Infantry Regiment|39th New York Infantry]].<ref>''Images: A Pictorial History of Italian Americans''. New York, 1986, p.26</ref> The [[39th New York Volunteer Infantry Regiment]], with 350 Italian members, was nicknamed Garibaldi Guard in honor of [[Giuseppe Garibaldi]].<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Belfiglio |first1=Valentino J. |title=Italians and the American Civil War |journal=Italian Americana |date=Spring–Summer 1978 |volume=4 |issue=2 |page=164 |jstor=41330626 |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/41330626 |access-date=December 21, 2022}}</ref> In 1861, Garibaldi himself volunteered his services to President [[Abraham Lincoln]]. Garibaldi was offered a major general's commission in the U.S. Army through the letter from Secretary of State [[William H. Seward]] to [[Henry Sanford|H. S. Sanford]], the U.S. minister at [[Brussels]].<ref>Mack Smith, Denis, Garibaldi, Prentice-Hall, 1969, pp. 69–70</ref>

===Period of Italian mass immigration (1880–1914)===
{{main|Italian diaspora}}
[[File:Mulberry Street NYC c1900 LOC 3g04637u edit.jpg|thumb|Mulberry Street, along which New York City's [[Little Italy, Manhattan|Little Italy]] is centered. [[Lower East Side, Manhattan|Lower East Side]], circa 1900.]]
[[File:ITALIAN IMMIGRANTS (1905) ELLIS ISLAND NY.png|thumb|Italian immigrants entering the United States via [[Ellis Island]] in 1905]]
[[File:HalstedLittleItalyChicago.jpg|thumb|Little Italy in Chicago, 1909]]

From 1880 to 1914, 13 million [[Italian diaspora|Italians migrated out of Italy]].<ref>{{Cite journal |date=March 1989 |title=APPENDIX A: Italian Immigration to the United States in the Last Twenty Years |journal=Center for Migration Studies Special Issues |volume=7 |issue=2 |pages=101–118 |doi=10.1111/j.2050-411x.1989.tb00597.x |issn=2050-411X|doi-access=free }}</ref> During this period of mass migration, 4 million Italians arrived in the United States, 3 million of them between 1900 and 1914.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Italian Immegration to the United States by Years |website=Mount Holyoke College |url=https://www.mtholyoke.edu/~molna22a/classweb/politics/images/italian%20population%20chart%20001.jpg |access-date=July 29, 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201025111330/https://www.mtholyoke.edu/~molna22a/classweb/politics/images/italian%20population%20chart%20001.jpg |archive-date=October 25, 2020 }}</ref> They came for the most part from southern Italy and from the island of [[Sicily]].<ref>Nelli (1980) p 545.</ref>  Most planned to stay a few years, then take their earnings and return home. According to historian [[Thomas J. Archdeacon]], 46 percent of the Italians who entered the United States between 1899 and 1924 permanently returned home.<ref>Thomas J. Archdeacon, ''Becoming American: An Ethnic History'' (Free Press, 1983), p. 139 [https://archive.org/details/becomingamerican00arch/page/139/mode/2up online]</ref>

Immigrants without industrial skills found employment in low-wage manual labor jobs. Instead of finding jobs on their own, most used the [[padrone system]] whereby Italian middlemen (''padroni'') found jobs for groups of men and controlled their wages, transportation, and living conditions for a fee.<ref>Luciano J. Iorizzo, ''Italian immigration and the impact of the padrone system'' (1980) p. 160</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.loc.gov/teachers/classroommaterials/presentationsandactivities/presentations/immigration/italian7.html#|title=Italian|publisher=Library of Congress|access-date=January 6, 2020}}</ref> According to historian Alfred T. Banfield: <blockquote>Criticized by many as slave traders who preyed upon poor, bewildered peasants, the "padroni" often served as travel agents, with fees reimbursed from paychecks, as landlords who rented out shacks and boxcars, and as storekeepers who extended exorbitant credit to their Italian laborer clientele. Despite such abuse, not all "padroni" were dastardly and most Italian immigrants reached out to their "padroni" for economic salvation, considering them either as godsends or necessary evils.<ref>Alfred T.  Banfield, ""The padrone, the sojourners, and the settlers: a preface to the 'little Italics' of Maine." ''Maine Historical Society Quarterly'' (1992)  Vol. 31 Issue 3/4, pp 114-141.</ref></blockquote>

In terms of the push-pull model of immigration,<ref>{{cite book|author1=James Ciment|author2=John Radzilowski|title=American Immigration: An Encyclopedia of Political, Social, and Cultural Change: An Encyclopedia of Political, Social, and Cultural Change|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=PPFnBwAAQBAJ&pg=PT109|year=2015|page=109|publisher=Routledge |isbn=978-1-317-47716-7}}</ref> the push factor came primarily from the harsh economic conditions in southern Italy. Major factors that contributed to the large exodus included political and social unrest, the weak agricultural economy of the South modeled on the outdated [[latifundia|latifundist]] system dating back to the [[feudal system|feudal]] period, a high tax burden, soil exhaustion and erosion, and military conscription lasting seven years.<ref name="ReferenceA"/> Many chose to emigrate rather than face the prospect of a deepening poverty. America provided the pull factor by the prospect of jobs that unskilled and uneducated Italian peasant farmers could do.<ref>{{cite book|author=Michael Burgan|title=Italian Immigrants|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=3CVFlliPvqEC&pg=PA29|year=2009|publisher=Infobase Publishing|page=29|isbn=978-1-4381-0359-4}}</ref> By far the strongest "pull" factor was higher income.<ref>Humbert S. Nelli, ''Italians in Chicago, 1880-1930 : a study in ethnic mobility'' (1970) pp. 18, 59.</ref>  Immigrants expected to make considerable sums in only a few years of work, enabling them to improve their economic status when they returned home; however, the Italian immigrants earned well below average rates.<ref>Robert Higgs, "Race, Skills, and Earnings: American Immigrants in 1909" ''Journal of Economic History'' 31#2  (1971), pp. 420-428, table on p. 426 [http://www.jstor.org/stable/2117052 online]</ref> The result was a sense of alienation from most of American culture and a lack of interest in learning English or otherwise assimilating.<ref>Robert A. Orsi, ''The Madonna of 115th Street: faith and community in Italian Harlem, 1880-1950'' (Yale UP, 1985), pp. 156-160.</ref> Not many women came, and those who did remained devoted to traditional Italian religious customs.<ref>Orsi, 168-71, 204-207.</ref> When [[World War I]] broke out, European migrants could not go home. Wages shot up, and the Italians benefited greatly. Most decided to stay permanently.<ref>Nelli, ''Italians in Chicago,'' p. 203-204.</ref>

Many sought housing in the older sections of the large [[Northeastern United States (U.S. Census Bureau)|Northeastern]] cities—districts that became known as "[[Little Italy]]s." Such housing was frequently in overcrowded, substandard tenements, which were often dimly lit and had poor heating and ventilation; tuberculosis and other communicable diseases were a constant health threat. The Italian male immigrants in the Little Italys were most often employed in manual labor and were heavily involved in [[public works]], such as the construction of roads, railroad tracks, sewers, subways, bridges, and the first skyscrapers in these cities. As early as 1890, it was estimated that around 90 percent of New York City's and 99 percent of Chicago's public works employees were Italians.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.digitalhistory.uh.edu/voices/italian_immigration.cfm|title=Digital History|website=Digitalhistory.uh.edu|access-date=October 7, 2017}}</ref> The women most frequently worked as seamstresses in the garment industry or in their homes. Many established small businesses in the Little Italys. In spite of the economic hardship of the immigrants, civil and social life flourished in the Italian American neighborhoods of the large northeastern cities.<ref>John W. Briggs, ''An Italian Passage: Immigrants to Three American Cities, 1890-1930'' (Yale University Press, 1978)</ref> The ''festa'' street festival became for many an important connection to the traditions of their ancestral villages in Italy, helping give the immigrants a sense of unity and common identity.

Many of the Italian immigrants also went to more remote regions of the country, such as Florida and California, drawn by opportunities in agriculture, fishing, mining, railroad construction, and lumbering. It was not uncommon, especially in the South, for the immigrants to be subjected to economic exploitation, hostility, and sometimes even violence.<ref name=Gambino1977>{{cite book |last=Gambino |first=Richard |title=Vendetta: A True Story of the Worst Lynching in America, the Mass Murder of Sicilian Americans in New Orleans in 1891, the Vicious Motivations Behind it, and the Tragic Repercussions and Stereotypes that Linger to This Day |publisher=Doubleday |year=1977 |isbn=0-385-12273-X |url=https://archive.org/details/vendettatruestor00gamb }}</ref> The Italian laborers who went to these areas were in many cases later joined by wives and children, which resulted in the establishment of permanent Italian American settlements. A number of towns, such as [[Roseto, Pennsylvania]],<ref>{{cite journal|pmc=1695733 | pmid=1636828 | volume=82 | issue=8 | title=The Roseto effect: a 50-year comparison of mortality rates | year=1992 | journal=Am J Public Health | pages=1089–92 | last1 = Egolf | first1 = B | last2 = Lasker | first2 = J | last3 = Wolf | first3 = S | last4 = Potvin | first4 = L | doi=10.2105/ajph.82.8.1089}}</ref> [[Tontitown, Arkansas]],<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.encyclopediaofarkansas.net/encyclopedia/entry-detail.aspx?entryID=2680|title=Tontitown (Washington County) - Encyclopedia of Arkansas|website=Encyclopediaofarkansas.net|access-date=October 7, 2017}}</ref> and [[Valdese, North Carolina]],<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.ncpedia.org/waldensians|title=Waldensians - NCpedia|website=Ncpedia.org|access-date=October 7, 2017}}</ref> were founded by Italian immigrants during this era.

[[Sarah Wool Moore]], was so concerned with [[Confidence trick|grifters]] luring immigrants into rooming houses or employment contracts in which the bosses got kickbacks that she pressed for the founding of the Society for the Protection of Italian Immigrants (often called the Society for Italian Immigrants). The society published lists of approved living quarters and employers. Later, the organization began establishing schools in work camps to help adult immigrants learn English.<ref>{{cite book|last1=Iorizzo|first1=Luciano J.|last2=Mondello|first2=Salvatore|title=The Italian-Americans|url=https://archive.org/details/italianamericans00iori|url-access=registration|year=1971|publisher=Twayne Publishers|location=New York, New York|page=[https://archive.org/details/italianamericans00iori/page/100 100]}}</ref><ref>{{cite book|last=Baily|first=Samuel L.|title=Immigrants in the Lands of Promise: Italians in Buenos Aires and New York City, 1870 - 1914|url=https://archive.org/details/immigrantsinland0000bail|url-access=registration|year=1999|publisher=Cornell University Press|location=Ithaca, New York|isbn=0-8014-3562-5|pages=[https://archive.org/details/immigrantsinland0000bail/page/207 207]–208}}</ref> Wool Moore and the society began organizing schools in the labor camps that employed Italian workers on various dam and quarry projects in Pennsylvania and New York. The schools focused on teaching phrases that workers needed in their everyday tasks.<ref>{{cite book|last1=McDonald|first1=Robert Alexander Fyfe|title=Adjustment of School Organization to Various Population Groups |series=Contributions to Education|volume=75|date=1915|publisher=[[Teachers College, Columbia University]]|location=New York City, New York|url=https://archive.org/stream/adjustmentschoo01mcdogoog#page/n84/mode/1up/search/%22Sarah+Wool+Moore%22|pages=72–73}}</ref>

===Integration into American society===

The Italian immigrants and their descendants were successful in numerous areas of endeavor including, but not limited to, those involving traditional Italian skills.   

A number of major business ventures were founded by Italian Americans. [[Amadeo Giannini]] originated the concept of branch banking to serve the Italian American community in [[San Francisco]]. He founded the [[Bank of Italy]], which later became the [[Bank of America]]. His bank financed the [[Golden Gate Bridge]] and also the first American animated film, the [[Walt Disney]] film ''[[Snow White]]'', which established [[Hollywood, Los Angeles|Hollywood]] as the capital of American film production.  Other companies founded by Italian Americans—such as [[Ghirardelli Chocolate Company]], [[Progresso]], [[Planters|Planters Peanuts]], [[Contadina]], [[Chef Boyardee]], and [[Jacuzzi]]—became nationally known brand names in time.

Italian conductors contributed to the early success of the [[Metropolitan Opera]] of New York (founded in 1880), but it was the arrival of impresario [[Giulio Gatti-Casazza]] in 1908, who brought with him conductor [[Arturo Toscanini]], that made the Met internationally known. Many Italian operatic singers and conductors were invited to perform for American audiences, most notably, tenor [[Enrico Caruso]]. The premiere of the opera [[La Fanciulla del West]] on December 10, 1910, with conductor Toscanini and tenor Caruso, was a major international success as well as an historic event for the entire Italian American community.<ref>[http://www.fanciulla100.org/fan_1910worldpremiere.html Giacomo Puccini's La Fanciulla del West. 100th Anniversary of World Premiere].</ref>

Italian Americans became involved in entertainment and sports. [[Rudolph Valentino]] was one of the first great film icons. [[Dixieland]] jazz music had a number of important Italian American innovators, the most famous being [[Nick LaRocca]] of [[New Orleans]], whose quintet made the first jazz recording in 1917. Italian Americans became increasingly involved in politics, government, and the labor movement. [[Andrew Longino]] was elected governor of Mississippi in 1900. [[Charles Joseph Bonaparte|Charles Bonaparte]] was secretary of the Navy and later attorney general in the [[Theodore Roosevelt]] administration, and he founded the [[Federal Bureau of Investigation]].<ref>Eric Martone, ed. ''Italian Americans: the history and culture of a people'' (ABC-CLIO, 2016) pp 65–68.</ref>

[[File:Joe petrosino.jpg|thumb|[[Joe Petrosino]] in 1909]]

[[Joe Petrosino]] was a [[New York City Police Department]] (NYPD) officer who was a pioneer in the fight against [[organized crime]]. Crime-fighting techniques that Petrosino pioneered are still practiced by law enforcement agencies. [[Salvatore A. Cotillo]] was the first Italian American to serve in both houses of the New York State Legislature and the first who served as Justice of the New York State Supreme Court. [[Fiorello La Guardia]] was elected to Congress from New York in 1916. He served as mayor of New York City from 1934 to 1946 as a Republican.<ref>{{Cite book | last = Holli | first = Melvin G. | title = The American Mayor | publisher = PSU Press | year = 1999 | location = University Park | url = https://archive.org/details/americanmayorbes0000holl | isbn = 0-271-01876-3 }}</ref>

Numerous Italian Americans were at the forefront in fighting for worker's rights in industries such as the mining, textiles, and garment industries, the most notable among these being [[Arturo Giovannitti]], [[Carlo Tresca]], and [[Joseph Ettor]].<ref>Michael Miller Topp, "The Transnationalism of the Italian-American Left: The Lawrence Strike of 1912 and the Italian Chamber of Labor of New York City." ''Journal of American Ethnic History'' (1997): 39-63.</ref><ref>Philip V. Cannistraro,  and Gerald Meyer, eds. ''The lost world of Italian American radicalism: politics, labor, and culture'' (Greenwood, 2003).</ref>

=== World War I and interwar period ===

[[File:Michael Valente US Army 1917.png|thumb|left|upright=1.50|[[Michael Valente]], recipient of the highest military decoration, the [[Medal of Honor]], for his actions during [[World War I]]]]
The United States entered [[World War I]] in 1917. The Italian American community wholeheartedly supported the war effort and its young men, both American born and Italian born, enlisted in large numbers in the American Army.<ref>Christopher M. Sterba, ''Good Americans: Italian and Jewish immigrants during the First World War'' (2003)</ref> It was estimated that during the two years of the war (1917–18) Italian American servicemen made up approximately 12 percent of the total American forces, a disproportionately high percentage of the total.<ref>Mangione, Jerre and Ben Morreale, "La Storia&nbsp;– Five Centuries of the Italian American Experience", pg. 340</ref> An Italian-born American infantryman, [[Michael Valente]], was awarded the [[Medal of Honor]] for his service. Another 103 Italian Americans (83 Italian born) were awarded the [[Distinguished Service Cross (United States)|Distinguished Service Cross]], the second highest decoration.<ref name=Ciment545560>James Ciment, ''The Home Front Encyclopedia: Vol.I'' (2007) p.341</ref> Italian Americans also accounted for more than 10 percent of war casualties World War I, despite making up less than 4 percent of the U.S. population.<ref name="Sowell">{{cite book |last=Sowell |first=Thomas |author-link=Thomas Sowell |title=Ethnic America: A History |date=1981 |publisher=Basic Books |isbn=0-465-02075-5 |location=New York |chapter=Chapter 5: The Italians}}</ref>

The war, together with the restrictive [[Emergency Quota Act]] of 1921 and [[Immigration Act of 1924]], heavily curtailed Italian immigration. Total annual immigration was capped at 357,000 in 1921 and lowered to 150,000 in 1924. Quotas were allotted on a national basis in proportion to a nationality's existing share of the population. The [[National Origins Formula]], which sought to preserve the existing demographic makeup of the United States and generally favored northwestern European immigration.  It assigned Italians, the fifth-largest in national origin of the U.S. population in 1920, only 3.87 percent of the annual immigrant quota.<ref name="ABA1924">{{cite journal|date=July 1924|journal=American Bar Association Journal|volume=10|publisher=American Bar Association|pages=490–492|last=Beaman|first=Middleton|issue=7|title=Current Legislation: The Immigration Act of 1924.|jstor=25709038}}</ref><ref name="statabstract1931">{{cite book |date=August 1931 |title=Statistical Abstract of the United States: 1931. |chapter=Immigration |url=https://www2.census.gov/library/publications/1931/compendia/statab/53ed/1931-03.pdf|location=Washington, D.C.|publisher=U.S. Department of Commerce, Bureau of Foreign and Domestic Commerce|pages=103–107|edition=53rd|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210329144712/https://www2.census.gov/library/publications/1931/compendia/statab/53ed/1931-03.pdf |archive-date=March 29, 2021 |access-date=October 23, 2021}}</ref> Despite implementation of the quota, the inflow of Italian immigrants remained between 6 or 7 percent of all immigrants.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.mtholyoke.edu/~molna22a/classweb/politics/Italianhistory.html|title=History of Italian Immigration|website=Mtholyoke.edu|access-date=August 16, 2016|archive-date=October 14, 2017|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171014060442/http://www.mtholyoke.edu/~molna22a/classweb/politics/Italianhistory.html}}</ref><ref>U.S. Department of Commerce, ''Statistical Abstract of the United States: 1930'' (1930) pp 99-100.</ref><ref>{{Cite web|url=http://historymatters.gmu.edu/d/5078|title=Who Was Shut Out?: Immigration Quotas, 1925-1927|website=historymatters.gmu.edu|access-date=August 16, 2016}}</ref> And when the restrictive quota system was abolished by the [[Immigration and Nationality Act of 1965]], Italians had already grown to be the second largest immigrant group in America, with 5,067,717 immigrants from Italy admitted between 1820 and 1966—constituting 12 percent of all immigrants to the United States—more than from [[Great Britain]] (4,711,711) and from [[Ireland]] (4,706,854).<ref name="INS1966" />

[[File:Italian_WPA_workers_doing_roadwork_in_Dorchester_(Boston),_1930s.jpg|thumb|Italian American [[Works Progress Administration|WPA]] workers doing roadwork in [[Dorchester, Boston]], 1930s]]

In the interwar period, jobs as policemen, firemen, and civil servants became increasingly available to Italian Americans. Others found employment as plumbers, electricians, mechanics, and carpenters. By 1920, numerous Little Italys had stabilized and grown considerably more prosperous as workers were able to obtain higher-paying jobs, often in skilled trades. Women found jobs as civil servants, secretaries, dressmakers, and clerks. With better-paying jobs, Italian Americans moved to more affluent neighborhoods outside of the Italian enclaves. The [[Great Depression]] (1929–1939) had a major impact on the Italian American community and temporarily reversed some of the earlier gains made. Many unemployed men and some women found jobs on President Franklin Roosevelt's [[New Deal]] work programs, such as the [[Works Progress Administration]] and the [[Civilian Conservation Corp]].

In politics, [[Al Smith]] (Anglicized form of the Italian surname Ferraro) became the first governor of New York of Italian ancestry—although the media characterized him as an Irish. He was the first Catholic to receive a major party presidential nomination, as Democratic candidate for president in 1928. He lost Protestant strongholds in the South but energized the Democratic vote in immigrant centers across the entire North. [[Angelo Joseph Rossi|Angelo Rossi]] was mayor of San Francisco from 1931 to 1944. In 1933–34, [[Ferdinand Pecora]] led a Senate investigation of the [[Wall Street Crash of 1929]], which exposed major financial abuses, and spurred Congress to rein in the banking industry.<ref>Michael Perino, ''The Hellhound of Wall Street: How Ferdinand Pecora's Investigation of the Great Crash Forever Changed American Finance'' (Penguin Press, 2010).</ref>

The [[Metropolitan Opera]] continued to flourish under the leadership of [[Giulio Gatti-Casazza]], whose tenure continued until 1935. [[Rosa Ponselle]] and [[Dusolina Giannini]], daughters of Italian immigrants, performed regularly at the Metropolitan Opera and became internationally known. [[Arturo Toscanini]] returned in the United States as the main conductor of the [[New York Philharmonic Orchestra]] (1926–1936) and introduced many Americans to classical music through his [[NBC Symphony Orchestra]] radio broadcasts (1937–1954). Popular singers of the period included [[Russ Columbo]], who established a new singing style that influenced [[Frank Sinatra]] and other singers that followed. On Broadway, [[Harry Warren]] (Salvatore Guaragna) wrote the music for ''42nd Street'', and received three [[Academy Award]]s for his compositions. Other Italian American musicians and performers, such as [[Jimmy Durante]], who later achieved fame in movies and television, were active in [[vaudeville]]. [[Guy Lombardo]] formed a popular dance band, which played annually on [[New Year's Eve]] in New York City's [[Times Square]].

The film industry of this era included [[Frank Capra]], who received three [[Academy Awards]] for directing and [[Frank Borzage]], who received two Academy Awards for directing.  Italian American cartoonists were responsible for some of the most popular animated characters: [[Donald Duck]] was created by [[Al Taliaferro]], [[Woody Woodpecker]] was a creation of [[Walter Lantz]] (Lanza), [[Casper the Friendly Ghost]] was co-created by [[Joseph Oriolo]], and [[Tom and Jerry]] were co-created by [[Joseph Barbera]].
[[File:EisenhowerRockyJoe.jpg|thumb|[[Joe DiMaggio]] and [[Rocky Marciano]] with president [[Dwight D. Eisenhower]] in 1953, two of the most famous Italian American athletes of that era]]
In sports, [[Gene Sarazen]] (Eugenio Saraceni) won both the [[Professional Golfers' Association of America|Professional Golf Association]] and [[U.S. Open (golf)|U.S. Open Tournaments]] in 1922. [[Pete DePaolo]] won the Indianapolis 500 in 1925. [[Tony Canzoneri]] won the lightweight boxing championship in 1930, and [[Rocky Marciano]] is the only undefeated heavyweight champion in history. [[Joe DiMaggio]], who was destined to become one of the most famous players in baseball history, began playing for the New York Yankees in 1936. [[Louis Zamperini]], the American [[distance runner]], competed in the [[1936 Summer Olympics|1936 Olympics]] and later became the subject of the bestselling book ''[[Unbroken: A World War II Story of Survival, Resilience, and Redemption|Unbroken]]'' by [[Laura Hillenbrand]], published in 2010 and a 2014 movie of the same title.

Italian Americans employed traditional Italian skills in growing and selling fresh fruits and vegetables, which were cultivated on small tracts of land in the suburban parts of many cities.<ref>Mangione, Jerre and Ben Morreale, "La Storia&nbsp;– Five Centuries of the Italian American Experience", pg. 176–177</ref><ref>{{cite news |url=https://timesmachine.nytimes.com/timesmachine/1910/12/04/105102571.pdf |work=The New York Times |title=Making American Farmers of Italian Immigrants: Successful Experiments in Building Up Colonies to Till the Soil, Though States Give Insufficient Encouragement |date=December 4, 1910}}</ref> In California, the [[DiGiorgio Corporation]] was founded, which grew to become a national supplier of fresh produce in the United States. Italian Americans in California were leading growers of grapes and producers of wine. Many well known wine brands, such as [[Robert Mondavi|Mondavi]], [[Carlo Rossi (wine)|Carlo Rossi]], Petri, Sebastiani, and [[E & J Gallo Winery|Gallo]] emerged from these early enterprises. Italian American companies were major importers of Italian wines, processed foods, textiles, marble, and manufactured goods.<ref>[[Donna Gabaccia|Donna R. Gabaccia]], "Ethnicity in the Business World: Italians in American Food Industries," ''The Italian American Review'' 6#2 (1997/1998): 1–19.</ref> Italian Americans continued their significant involvement in the labor movement during this period. Well-known labor organizers included [[Carlo Tresca]], [[Luigi Antonini]], [[James Petrillo]], and [[Angela Bambace]].<ref>Salvatore J. LaGumina, "Reflections of an Italian-American Worker." ''Journal of Ethnic Studies'' 3.2 (1975): 65-77 [https://www.proquest.com/docview/1300553397?pq-origsite=gscholar&fromopenview=true&imgSeq=1 online].</ref>

[[Benito Mussolini|Benito Mussolini's]] [[Italian fascism|Fascist regime in Italy]] sought to build a base of popular support in the United States, focusing on the Italian community. His supporters far outnumbered his opponents, both inside the Italian American community and among all Catholics, as well as among the wider American leadership.<ref>John Patrick Diggins, ''Mussolini and Fascism: The View From America'' (Princeton UP, 1972) pp. 58-60, 66, 68, 143.</ref><ref>Peter R. D'Agostino, ''Rome in America: Transnational Catholic Ideology from the Risorgimento to Fascism'' (U. of North Carolina Press, 2004) pp. 256–258.</ref>) According to Stefano Luconi, in the 1920s and 1930s "numerous Italian Americans became US citizens, registered for the vote, and cast their ballots in order to lobby Congress and the Presidency on behalf of fascism and to support Mussolini's goals in foreign policy."<ref>Stefano Luconi, "Fascism and Italian-American Identity Politics." ''Italian Americana'' 33#1(2015), pp. 6–24. [http://www.jstor.org/stable/43926785 online], quoting p. 7</ref> According to Fraser Ottanelli, Rome also worked to enhance Italy's reputation through a series of highly visible moves. They included participating in the [[Century of Progress]] (1933–1934) world fair in Chicago; supporting [[Italo Balbo|Italo Balbo's]] dramatic transatlantic flights; and donating a statue to Chicago. A minority of Italian Americans who fervently opposed fascism did not support Rome's moves. They promoted an unsuccessful measure in Congress that condemned Italy's meddling in U.S. internal affairs and called for the revocation of U.S. citizenship from people who swore allegiance to Mussolini. [[Alberto Tarchiani]], Italy's first ambassador to the United States after [[World War II]], requested the removal of any displays that honored the fascist regime, but with little success. Many memorials remain in the 21st century.<ref>Fraser M. Ottanelli, " 'Mussolini's Column': Fascist Memorials and the Politics of Italian American Identity in Chicago." ''Italian American Review'' 12.1 (2022): 86-107.</ref>

=== World War II ===
[[File:Italian-American Veterans memorial, Southbridge, MA - DSC02697.JPG|thumb|left|Italian American veterans of all wars memorial, Southbridge, Massachusetts]]

As a member of the [[Axis powers]], [[Italian declaration of war on the United States|Italy declared war]] on the United States on December 11, 1941, four days after [[Attack on Pearl Harbor|Japan attacked Pearl Harbor]]. Although many Italian Americans admired Mussolini in the 1930s, very few if any demonstrated a desire to transfer fascist ideology to America.<ref name="Sowell" /> When Italy entered the war on the side of [[Nazi Germany]] in 1940, "most Italian Americans distanced themselves from Fascism."<ref>Luconi, "Fascism and Italian-American Identity Politics," p. 15.</ref> Anti-fascist Italian expatriates in the United States founded the [[Mazzini Society]] in 1939 to work toward ending fascist rule in Italy.<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Tirabassi |first1=Maddalena |title=Enemy Aliens or Loyal Americans?: the Mazzini Society and the Italian-American Communities |journal=Rivista di Studi Anglo-Americani |date=1984–1985 |issue=4–5 |pages=399–425}}</ref><ref>{{cite journal |last1=Morrow |first1=Felix |author-link1=Felix Morrow |title=Washington's Plans for Italy |journal=Fourth International |date=June 1943 |volume=4 |issue=6 |pages=175–179 |url=https://www.marxists.org/archive/morrow-felix/1943/06/italy.htm |access-date=December 9, 2018 }}</ref>

Between 750,000 and 1.5 million people of Italian descent are thought to have served in the U.S. armed forces during the war, about 10 percent of the total, and 14 Italian Americans received the Medal of Honor for their service.<ref>Marton, Eric. "Italian Americans: The History and Culture of a People." Page 148. Quote Vice President Nelson Rockefeller: "I think of the 1.5 million Americans of Italian descent who made up ten per cent of the armed might of the United States in World War II, and many of these men you have met in years still well remembered."</ref><ref>{{cite web |title=Jan 14, 2019 Why America Targeted Italian-Americans During World War II |url=https://www.history.com/news/italian-american-internment-persecution-wwii |website=[[history.com]] |date=January 14, 2019 |access-date=May 26, 2021}}</ref> The work of [[Enrico Fermi]] was crucial in developing the [[atom bomb]].

[[World War II]] ended the mass unemployment and relief programs that characterized the 1930s, opening up new employment opportunities for large numbers of Italian Americans, who significantly contributed to the nation's war effort. Much of the Italian American population was concentrated in urban areas where the new war materiel plants were located. Many Italian American women took war jobs, such as Rose Bonavita, who was recognized by President Franklin D. Roosevelt with a personal letter commending her for her performance as an aircraft riveter. She, together with a number of other women workers, provided the basis of the name, "[[Rosie the Riveter]]", which came to symbolize the millions of American women workers in the war industries.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.anb.org/articles/20/20-01920-print.html|title=American National Biography Online|website=Anb.org|access-date=October 7, 2017}}</ref> [[Chef Boyardee]], the company founded by [[Ettore Boiardi]], was one of the largest suppliers of rations for U.S. and allied forces during World War II.

==== Wartime violation of Italian-American civil liberties ====
{{Main|Internment of Italian Americans}}
From the onset of the Second World War, and particularly following [[Attack on Pearl Harbor|Pearl Harbor attack]], Italian Americans were increasingly placed under suspicion. As a consequence, [[Eo 9066|Executive Order 9066]] called for the compulsory relocation of more than 10,000 Italian Americans and restricted the movements of more than 600,000 Italian Americans nationwide,<ref>{{cite web |last1=Taylor |first1=David A. |title=During World War II, the U.S. Saw Italian-Americans as a Threat to Homeland Security |url=https://www.smithsonianmag.com/history/italian-americans-were-considered-enemy-aliens-world-war-ii-180962021/ |website=smithsonianmag.com |access-date=May 26, 2021}}</ref> and the [[United States Department of Justice|Department of Justice]] classified unnaturalized Italian Americans as "[[enemy alien]]s" under the [[Alien and Sedition Act]]. Thousands of Italians were arrested, and hundreds of Italians were interned in military camps, some for up to two years.<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.usdoj.gov/crt/Italian_Report.pdf |title=A Review of the Restrictions on Persons of Italian Ancestry During World War II |publisher=US DOJ |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070709232203/http://www.usdoj.gov/crt/Italian_Report.pdf |archive-date=July 9, 2007 }}</ref> As many as 600,000 others were required to carry identity cards identifying them as "resident aliens." Thousands more on the West Coast were required to move inland, often losing their homes and businesses in the process.<ref>{{Cite journal|last=Branca-Santos|first=Paula|date=Spring 2001|title=Injustice Ignored: The Internment of Italian - Americans during World War II|url=http://digitalcommons.pace.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1207&context=pilr|journal=Pace International Law Review|volume=13|issue=1|page=151 |doi=10.58948/2331-3536.1207 |s2cid=153416867 |doi-access=free}}</ref> They were targeted despite a lack of evidence that Italians were conducting spy or sabotage operations in the United States.<ref>{{cite web |title=Why America Targeted Italian-Americans During World War II |url=https://www.history.com/news/italian-american-internment-persecution-wwii |website=history.com |date=January 14, 2019 |access-date=May 26, 2021}}</ref><ref name="internment">Di Stasi, Lawrence (2004). ''Una Storia Segreta: The Secret History of Italian American Evacuation and Internment during World War II''. Heyday Books. {{ISBN|1-890771-40-6}}.</ref><ref>{{cite book |last1=Fox |first1=Stephen |title=Uncivil liberties: Italian Americans under siege during World War II |date=2000 |publisher=Universal Publishers/Upublish.com |location=[Parkland, Fla.] |isbn=978-1-58112-754-6 |edition=[Rev.] }}</ref><ref>{{cite web |title=Prisoners {{sic|Amou|ng|nolink=y}} Us Italian American Identity and WWII |url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3aa1aKXq-fM | archive-url=https://ghostarchive.org/varchive/youtube/20211211/3aa1aKXq-fM| archive-date=December 11, 2021 | url-status=live|website=youtube.com | date=November 8, 2016 |access-date=May 26, 2021}}{{cbignore}}</ref>
On November 7, 2000, [[Bill Clinton]] signed the Wartime Violation of Italian American Civil Liberties Act.<ref name=":0">{{Cite web|url=http://www.prisonersamongus.com/StudyGuide.pdf|title=Prisoner's Among Us|publisher=National Italian American Foundation|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170406082825/http://www.prisonersamongus.com/StudyGuide.pdf|archive-date=April 6, 2017}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.govtrack.us/congress/bills/106/hr2442/text|title=Text of H.R. 2442 (106th): Wartime Violation of Italian American Civil Liberties Act (Passed Congress/Enrolled Bill version) - GovTrack.us|website=GovTrack.us|access-date=August 16, 2016}}</ref> This act ordered a comprehensive review by the [[United States Attorney General|attorney general]] of the United States of the treatment of Italian Americans during the Second World War. The findings concluded that
# The freedom of more than 600,000 Italian-born immigrants in the United States and their families was restricted during World War II by government measures that branded them "enemy aliens" and included requirements to carry identification cards, travel restrictions, and seizure of personal property.
# During World War II, more than 10,000 Italian Americans living on the West Coast were forced to leave their homes and prohibited from entering coastal zones. More than 50,000 were subjected to curfews.
# During World War II, thousands of Italian American immigrants were arrested, and hundreds were interned in military camps.
# Hundreds of thousands of Italian Americans performed exemplary service and thousands sacrificed their lives in defense of the United States.
# At the time, Italians were the largest foreign-born group in the United States, and today they are the fifth-largest immigrant group in the United States, numbering approximately 15 million.
# The impact of the wartime experience was devastating to Italian American communities in the United States, and its effects are still being felt.
# A deliberate policy kept these measures from the public during the war. Even today much information is still classified, the full story remains unknown to the public, and it has never been acknowledged in any official capacity by the United States government.
In 2010, California officially issued an apology to the Italian Americans whose civil liberties had been violated.<ref>{{Cite news|url=https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-2010-aug-23-la-me-italians-20100823-story.html|title=State apologizes for mistreatment of Italian residents during WWII|last=Chawkins|first=Steve|date=August 23, 2010|newspaper=Los Angeles Times|language=en-US|issn=0458-3035|access-date=August 16, 2016}}</ref>

===Post–World War II period===
{{clear}}
[[File:MarioAndretti.jpg|thumb|upright|[[Mario Andretti]], one of the most successful drivers in the history of motorsports,<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.carophile.org/greatest-race-car-drivers-of-all-time/7/|title=10 Greatest Race Car Drivers of All Time|date=May 7, 2015|publisher=carophile.org|access-date=April 9, 2017}}</ref>]]

Italians continued to immigrate to the United States, and an estimated 600,000 arrived in the decades following the war. Many of the new arrivals had professional training or were skilled in various trades.
The post-war period was a time of great social change for Italian Americans. Many aspired to a college education, which became possible for returning veterans through the [[GI Bill]]. Since the 1960s, a lot of people left Italy and went to North America (mostly), South America, and Europe. European migration was seasonal and permanent.<ref>Buliga, Ana Laura. "Causes and Effects of the Migratory Italian Waves in the 19Th - 20Th Centuries." ''Bulletin of the Transilvania University of Brasov, Series VII: Social Sciences & Law'', vol. 9 (58), no. 2, July 2016, pp. 53–60. ''EBSCOhost'',</ref> With better job opportunities and better educated, Italian Americans entered mainstream American life in great numbers. The Italian enclaves were abandoned by many who chose to live in other urban areas and in the suburbs. Many married outside of their ethnic group, most frequently with other ethnic Catholics, but increasingly also with those of diverse religious and ethnic backgrounds.<ref>Moquin, ''Documentary History'' (1974) pp 401–32</ref><ref>Candeloro (1984) pp 266–68</ref> According to Dr. [[Richard Alba|Richard D. Alba]], director of the [[University at Albany, SUNY|Center for Social and Demographic Analysis at the State University of New York at Albany]], 8 percent of Americans of Italian descent born before 1920 had mixed ancestry, but 70 percent of them born after 1970 were the children of intermarriage. In 1985, among Americans of Italian descent under the age of 30, 72 percent of men and 64 percent of women married someone with no Italian background.<ref>{{Cite news|last=Collins|first=Glenn|date=February 11, 1985|title=THE FAMILY;A NEW LOOK AT INTERMARRIAGE IN THE U.S. (Published 1985)|language=en-US|work=The New York Times|url=https://www.nytimes.com/1985/02/11/style/the-family-a-new-look-at-intermarriage-in-the-us.html|access-date=February 6, 2021|issn=0362-4331}}</ref> Numerous Italian Americans are [[Person of color|people of color]], including many people of mixed African-African and white Italian ancestry. Notable Black Italian-Americans include Pittsburgh Steeler running back [[Franco Harris]].<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.wetheitalians.com/interviews/italian-americans-and-african-americans-clash-cultures |title=John Gennari (Author of the book "Flavor and Soul: Italian America at Its African American Edge") |publisher=We the Italians |access-date=May 19, 2023}}</ref>
[[File:Walter M. Schirra (Apollo 7).jpg|thumb|left|[[Wally Schirra]], one of the earliest NASA astronauts to enter into space (1962), taking part in the [[Mercury Seven]] program and later [[Project Gemini|Gemini]] and [[Apollo program|Apollo]] programs]]

Italian Americans took advantage of the new opportunities that generally became available to all in the post-war decades. They made many significant contributions to American life and culture.

Numerous Italian Americans became involved in politics at the local, state, and national levels in the post-war decades. Those who became U.S. senators included [[John Pastore]] of Rhode Island, who was the first Italian American elected to the Senate in 1950; [[Pete Domenici]], who was elected to the U.S. Senate from New Mexico in 1972 and served six terms; [[Patrick Leahy]], who was elected to the U.S. Senate from Vermont in 1974 and served until 2023; and [[Alfonse D'Amato]], who served as U.S. senator from New York from 1981 to 1999. [[Nancy Pelosi]] was both the first woman and the first Italian American Speaker of the House. [[Anthony Celebrezze]] served for five two-year terms as mayor of Cleveland, from 1953 to 1962 and, in 1962, President [[John F. Kennedy]] appointed him as United States Secretary of Health, Education, and Welfare (now the Department of Health and Human Services). [[Benjamin Civiletti]] served as the United States Attorney General during the last year and a half of the Carter administration, from 1979 to 1981. [[Frank Carlucci]] served as the United States Secretary of Defense from 1987 to 1989 in the administration of President [[Ronald Reagan]].
[[File:Pope Leo XIV 2 (cropped).png|thumb|[[Pope Leo XIV]]. His paternal grandfather's family name was Riggitano, and later changed to Prevost, when he was settled in the United States.<ref name="bosman2025">{{cite news |last1=Bosman |first1=Julie |title=A Century-Old Romance That Gave the Pope His Family Name |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2025/05/16/us/pope-leo-grandfather.html?unlocked_article_code=1.Hk8.tLNf.NnvwUXTO7EKz&smid=url-share |access-date=16 May 2025 |work=The New York Times |date=May 16, 2025}}</ref> Leo XIV's paternal grandparents were John Riggitano Prevost (born Salvatore Giovanni Gaetano Riggitano, changed by him in the United States; 1876{{endash}}1960),<ref name="ANSA">{{cite news |title=Pope also has Creole origins from New Orleans - NYT - Vatican - Ansa.it |url=https://www.ansa.it/english/news/vatican/2025/05/09/pope-also-has-creole-origins-from-new-orleans-nyt_1e45a964-0b92-4bb2-b69b-00c3f83b8038.html |access-date=15 May 2025 |work=ANSA |date=9 May 2025 |language=it}}</ref><ref name="Serra 2025">{{cite web |last=Serra |first=Oscar |date=May 9, 2025 |title=Prevost, le origini italiane (come Bergoglio) e quel cognome che rimanda al Nord Ovest |trans-title=Prevost, the Italian origins (like Bergoglio) and that surname that recalls the North West|url=https://www.lastampa.it/cronaca/2025/05/09/news/prevost_origini_italiane_come_bergoglio_nome_profezia-15139133/ |access-date=May 9, 2025 |website=[[La Stampa]] |language=it}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |last=Clayton |first=Laura |title='Great hope for the Church' as new Pope elected |url=https://www.bailiwickexpress.com/news-ge/great-hope-for-the-church-as-new-pope-elected/ |website=Bailiwick Express News Guernsey |date=May 12, 2025|access-date=May 13, 2025}}</ref> a [[Sicilian Americans|Sicilian immigrant]] from [[Milazzo]] near [[Messina]], [[Sicily]] region.<ref name="bosman2025"/>]]

Italian Americans founded many successful enterprises, both small and large, in the post-war decades, including [[Barnes & Noble]], [[Tropicana Products]], [[Frank Zamboni|Zamboni]], [[Transamerica Corporation|Transamerica]], [[Subway (restaurant)|Subway]], [[Mr. Coffee]], and [[Conair Corporation]]. Other enterprises founded by Italian Americans were [[Fairleigh Dickinson University]], the [[Eternal Word Television Network]], and the [[Philadelphia 76ers|Syracuse Nationals]] basketball team – later to become the [[Philadelphia 76ers]]. [[Robert Panara]] was a co-founder of the [[National Technical Institute for the Deaf]] and founder of the [[National Theater of the Deaf]]. Recognized as a pioneer in deaf culture studies in the United States, he was honored with a commemorative U.S. stamp in 2017.

Eight Italian Americans became Nobel Prize laureates in the post-war decades: [[Mario Capecchi]], [[Renato Dulbecco]], [[Riccardo Giacconi]], [[Salvatore Luria]], [[Franco Modigliani]], [[Rita Levi Montalcini]], [[Emilio G. Segrè]], and [[Carolyn Bertozzi]].

Italian Americans continued to serve with distinction in the military, with 4 Medal of Honor recipients in the [[Korean War]] and 11 in the [[Vietnam War]],<ref>Aldo E. Salerno, "Medal of Honor Winners", in ''The Italian American Experience: An Encyclopedia'', ed. Salvatore LaGumina (New York: Garland, 2000), pp. 365–68.</ref> including [[Vincent R. Capodanno]], a Catholic chaplain.

At the close of the 20th century, 31 men and women of Italian descent were serving in the U.S. House and Senate, 82 of the 1,000 largest U.S. cities had mayors of Italian descent, and 166 college and university presidents were of Italian descent.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://dev.niaf.org/research/contribution.asp |archive-url=https://archive.today/20150309085758/https://dev.niaf.org/research/contribution.asp|title=Italian American Contributions|date=March 9, 2015|archive-date=March 9, 2015}}</ref> An Italian American, [[Antonin Scalia]], was serving as a [[Supreme Court of the United States|U.S. Supreme Court]] justice, who was later joined by [[Samuel Alito]] in 2006. More than two dozen Italian Americans were serving in the Catholic Church as bishops. Four—[[Joseph Bernardin]], [[Justin Rigali]], [[Anthony Bevilacqua]], and [[Daniel DiNardo]]—had been elevated to Cardinals.

Italian Americans served with distinction in all of America's wars, and over 30 have been awarded the Medal of Honor. A number of Italian Americans have served as top-ranking generals in the military, including [[Anthony Zinni]], [[Raymond Odierno]], [[Carl Vuono]], and [[Peter Pace]], the latter three having also been appointed [[Joint Chiefs of Staff|Chief of Staff]] of their respective services. Over two dozen of Italian descent have been elected as state governors including, most recently, [[Paul Cellucci]] of Massachusetts, [[John Baldacci]] of Maine, [[Janet Napolitano]] of Arizona, and [[Donald Carcieri]] of Rhode Island.
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