My Sicilian Italian heritage is very important to me. Earlier this year, I found a documentary on PBS about Italian Americans. Thank God I recorded it to my DVR because I love learning this history. I watched the documentary and took notes, and did a little research on Google, of course.
There are certain traits that Italian American people have that are a little larger than life. We don't all fit those categories - talk loudly, talk with our hands, Italian women spend all day making pasta, and most have dark hair and brown eyes. Half of Italy has blue eyes. However, one tradition we have held onto: old family traditions.
Over 4 million Italians arrived in America in the early 1900's. I have always heard New York, and near-by boroughs, was where most Italians settled. One city, Roseto, Pennsylvania, was where Southern Italian immigrants also settled. Roseto was founded by Southern Italian immigrants 130 years ago, 1884.
Every year the little town of Roseto, has a reunion and they call it a celebration. (Population in 2013 was 1560.) This celebration is called The Big Thank You from the community, a celebration that "we are all here, alive, well, and we made it". La famiglia is most important to Italians. Researchers did a study (1961) of the people of Roseto. Calling it The Roseto Effect, doctors discovered the people of Roseto had an extremely low incidence of myocardial infarction. The socially cohesive community is protected - hence, the Roseto Effect. Even though they ate a lot of pasta and high fat meats, heart disease was almost unheard of. Their diet was high in fat and cholesterol, yet these people felt emotionally safe and this equated to good health.
Roseto was incorporated in 1912 and they proudly state on their official website "Rich in tradition and strong family values".
Part 2- early history on Italy before it was a unified country- next post.
Thank you, have a great day and God Bless! Aleta
"Life is too short and I'm Italian. I'd much rather eat pasta and drink wine than be a size 0."
- Sophia Bush, actress and director
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