I am 100% Italian American. Italian ancestry on both sides. My family comes from Campania, Calabria and Sicily. All the places you talk about in this article. We use the words that you speak about and I had no idea where they came from except I assumed they were a Mish mash of something that was not really Italian. I don’t see myself as Italian. I see myself as American. Italian American, but I’m American first. I don’t speak Italian and when I’m in Italy, I don’t feel that it is my country. Italy has evolved since my family immigrated to the United States.
This was such a wonderful read for me, given my background
I got citizenship right before the decree. However, I grew up in a California suburb. Italian-American culture is almost as foreign to me as Italy itself. No gabagool in my house. I did study abroad and learned the language (sort of). I went to my great grandparents town. It's a process.
I never say "I'm Italian" anymore. That only makes sense within the US when speaking to other Americans. It's a misunderstanding. We never literally mean that. It's just a shorthand to talk about our ancestry.
Here in Ireland, the diaspora can only get an Irish passport if they have any Irish grandparent. Here we have a distaste for the Irish Americans who travel to Ireland expecting it to have unchanged since Grandad Patrick had his photo taken outside his cottage in 1899. His cottage now is either a holiday house for someone or was razed to the ground for house building or a new road. I can categorically say that do not see them as Irish ( I do think maybe it’s just with Americans, I mean if you are Irish Italian no problem)
I see your point. Yet I see from other perspective, as a second generation American, who’s returned to Europe the homeland, American-XYZ are just Americans. There’s a distinct cultural difference and a huge reluctance to embrace the culture. You see a lot of Americans just pushing themselves onto other people and not adjusting accordingly (ie inability or refusal to read the room)…
That’s why I guess you could say for those of us mixed Europeans, we see each other as Europeans and grant passes for Irish Italians, etc.
You can transpose this also to the UK. I actually possess dual UK-Italian nationality. I am born and bred in Bedford, UK which has the highest number of people of Italian descent in the UK. My paternal grandparents (ethnically I am half-Italian) only ever spoke dialect and were in the minority of returning to Italy when they retired. I visited all the time when I was younger and stopped after they died. It is difficult, you grow up in a microcosm in the Bedford Italian community and visiting a very small village in Calabria, and then visit the North as a tourist and are completely unable to relate. I never say I am Italian (I consider myself British) but when I speak in accented (proper) Italian, people ask why and I explain and then are generally genuinely interested.
As an American with Italian roots living in Italy, who has impending Italian citizenship, I will always identify as an American. When asked by locals who are curious about my strangely accented Italian or surprised when I ask them to parlare un po’ più lentamente “perché non so parlare BENISSIMO l’italiano”, I say I am American but that my grandmother was “marchigiana”. I feel this respectfully conveys my degree of “l’italianità” while acknowledging that I understand I am a “straniera”.
My experience living in different east coast US regions with a notable Italian diaspora is that some Italian-Americans seem to make being “Italian” their whole personality despite most of us having connections to Italy that are tenuous at best. I’m sure that could be off-putting to native Italians.
This is a topic I have spent years thinking about. I am glad you used the word family. Today, the legal and political machinations of a powerful few have issued not just a death blow to a century and a half of distant but vital relationships, they have unknowingly just ended any chance that Italy will survive as an Italian nation. What Tajani’s law destroyed was the golden opportunity that all other nations facing an aging population and a rapidly declining replacement rate would kill for.
Instead of understanding and welcoming the nearly limitless energy, love, pride and history of ethnic Italians living in the US and other countries, and harnessing that to thrust Italy into vibrant, growing, rich and prosperous nation, the Tajani law has now sacrificed a bright future for political greed.
As an Italian-American and dual-citizen born in the US but with 100% Italian blood going back centuries, it is heartbreaking. Instead of twisting legal processes, playing semantics with the Italian Constitution, and pretending this will all save Italy, the Italian government should be creating programs to invite young diaspora populations with strong connections to Italy to experience it first hand: National programs to allow young people from America and other diaspora nations to visit, stay in some of the hundreds of thousands of to be forever vacant apartments, come to concerts, enjoy free language training, meet their Italians peers, stay connected, (many will fall in love not only with Italy but with one another), return often, marry, bring wealth, investment and the same lifeblood that emigrated in the 18th and 19th centuries HOME.
This, not legal moats, is the what should have been done. The greatest national public relations program since the postwar boom would have reinvigorated countless families, towns, regions and, over time, industries and the economy itself.
When I return with my family to land of all my great-grandparents and grand parents, I don’t do so as a visitor, I do so as a a muratore laying a brick for the future - a future of reunification, heritage and cultural pride. My children have been recognized as Italian citizens from brith through the Caso 1948 process. They speak Italian. We have close relatives and generational friends. We own an apartment (not inherited from my ancestors who had nothing but heartbreak when they left Italy to end up in mines, sweatshops and hospitals - those who stormed the beaches and jumped out of planes in 1943 to LIBERATE Italy from the Nazis), but as an investment out of love because we cherish those who came before us and value what they have and the land, culture, faith and lives they sacrificed.
I am not alone. There are literally millions like me. And instead of allowing us, like the diaspora who came before us, to contribute, to transform, to strengthen Italy from afar, the Italian government has told us :”vaffanculo, you are dead to me.” As we watch Italy isolate itself, consumed by the “EU” and its latest hidden economic slave war on its neighbors, we will turn the other cheek, because that’s what you do when someone in the family screws up.
Svegliati, Italia! The Tajani law is a Trojan horse. It is not protecting you, it is accelerating your decline.
I'm an American with zero Italian ancestry, but I found your post fascinating.
I found myself reflecting on being American while on a 3-week trip to the UK last year. My most recent immigrant ancestor (my great-grandfather) came to the U.S. from Denmark sometime in the 1860s. The rest of my traceable family were here much earlier.
This is a reflection I wrote as part of a much longer piece about my trip:
"Americans often label ourselves as being from whatever mother country our ancestors came from. It’s confusing to people living in these countries, who think of us as simply Americans.
"And despite my fascination with researching my family’s roots, I realized while traveling this time that I think of myself as American, too. I’m the product of many people who traveled to our shores, willingly and unwillingly, some as far back as 400 years ago.
"It’s not those bloodlines that define us. And as we undergo another internal convulsion regarding the definition of being American, it’s never been more clear to me that those trying to redefine us by religion and ancestry are dead wrong.
"The metaphor of a melting pot was never entirely accurate but it’s not wrong to say that our strength as a nation comes from the kaleidoscope of cultures, nationalities, religions and races that call this place home. We *all* belong here."
Thanks Barbara. Just imagine what the USA would be like without the “kaleidoscope of cultures, nationalities, religions and races that call this place home.” Stephen Miller’s whitewashed dream.
Great article, Antonio, and a pretty spot on depiction of my childhood experience growing up in a 100% Italian-American household in 1960’s upstate NY. My paternal grandfather and his brother emigrated from Lazio (provincia di Latina) in the 1920’s, and my mother’s family from Molise ( Campobasso). I grew up hearing the dialects as well as words like gabagool. My grandparents discouraged Italian at home, and my parents never learned the language. When I became fluent years later, my maternal grandmother would always make a point of playfully poking fun at my “fancy Italian”.
I’m a dual American-Canadian citizen whose grandfather emigrated to the USA about 120 years ago. Through DNA matches, I’ve connected with Sicilian relatives in recent years. I’ve been to Sicily twice and met 34 cousins, all of whom warmly welcomed me into their lives and homes. Those connections were undoubtedly enhanced by my ability to speak Italian reasonably well. I’m thrilled to have made these connections with my Sicilian family.
I once worked for an Italian company based in the north. From time to time. US employees would travel to Italy for training and such, while Italian employees would come to the US.
To say there was tension between the Italians and Italian Americans is an understatement. Part of it is surely down to the north / south hostility you pointed out. Most of the Italian Americans in western Pennsylvania are descendants of southerners.
The bigger issue was over who the “real” Italians were. Neither side was willing to give an inch (or centimeter) on that front.
It's nice you addressed this. I've thought about writing about this.
This is a European habit that stems from ignorance frankly. Americans don't say they are Irish, German, or Italian because they wish they could live in Europe or are jealous of the culture. They say it because we are all recent immigrants. Almost everyone's great grandparents fled Europe so they wouldn't starve to death so there is a cultural memory still there. It's just a way to start a conversation.
It's ironic how some Europeans call us "ugly Americans" because of cultural ignorance yet this is a prevalent issue of cultural ignorance among Europeans. It also adds to the "elitist European" stereotype most Americans think of about Europeans.
I love Italy. I am 50% Italian. I have a nonno and nonna. There are many things Italians do that is way better than us especially in regards to food. Kindergarten was a culture shock for me as a child when I realized what other Americans ate. 🤣 I also would never move to Italy despite those positives.
I never knew the stereotype about Napolitanos. My nonno was Napolitano and everyone jokes his family is crazy but fun so I guess this checks out with what the rest of Italy thinks! 🤣 I definitely take after him so that's probably why I chose to be the comedy muse 🤣 .
I'm going to Italy in the fall and I'm definitely looking forward to it!
(Also most Europeans are not rude and make fun of Americans who say they are Italian. It's just a very vocal minority. )
Does Italy need to give out citizenships to connect with the diaspora?
There are a lot of other ways. You can have preferential visas that give work rights in Italy (but not the rest of the EU). If people stay on then you can give them citizenship, like any other immigrant.
I am italian american with family still in abruzzo., my grandparents spoke English as well as italian but never taught us the language. They wanted us to be American .
As all 4 of my grandparents naturalized we don’t qualify for citizenship.
My grandfather, as the eldest son inherited his families land in a coastal city. He gave it to his sister who remained and my cousins still live in that property today. My grandmothers eldest brother also gave her family land to his cousins. They, like many sons and daughters sent money to their families who remained in italy throughout their lives.
During the war they sent not only money but penicillin and other medical supplies. Im sure they were not alone in doing this.
We were taught to be proud of our italian ancestry even though it was looked down on in the american caste system. It makes me sad to hear that our italian cousins don’t hold our heritage in the same esteem.
Mb — if obtaining Italian citizenship is still of interest to you, you should know an important fact: as long as one of your parents was born before both of his/her parents (your paternal or maternal grandparents) naturalized, you probably do qualify. At least that’s how it worked before the Tajani decree. And I’m guessing it still works that way. That said, if you do decide to apply, be ready for a long process. It took me four years … but it was worth it.
Really good article. I was wondering about this Italian reluctance to accept American Italians in relation to the Italian attitude to people with mixed or different ethnic roots who consider themselves Italian or in terms of nationality, are Italian. The attitude is confused and uneducated. An Italian stops being Italian in America and becomes American. But a mixed Moroccan/Italian born in Italy wouldn't be accepted as Italian. The cultural markers would be present for an Italian but the Moroccan element would render him “not Italian”… By that reasoning an Italian would remain Italian after generations in America, but no. The phrase “if a pig is born in a stable it doesn't become a horse” has been spotted a lot lately. The stupidity leaves me speechless.
At 80, I just received word that my Italian citizenship has been restored through my grandmother but the above article gives me food for thought about establishing a second residence in Italy. So like "real Italians' are protective of their native status?
I am 100% Italian American. Italian ancestry on both sides. My family comes from Campania, Calabria and Sicily. All the places you talk about in this article. We use the words that you speak about and I had no idea where they came from except I assumed they were a Mish mash of something that was not really Italian. I don’t see myself as Italian. I see myself as American. Italian American, but I’m American first. I don’t speak Italian and when I’m in Italy, I don’t feel that it is my country. Italy has evolved since my family immigrated to the United States.
This was such a wonderful read for me, given my background
I got citizenship right before the decree. However, I grew up in a California suburb. Italian-American culture is almost as foreign to me as Italy itself. No gabagool in my house. I did study abroad and learned the language (sort of). I went to my great grandparents town. It's a process.
I never say "I'm Italian" anymore. That only makes sense within the US when speaking to other Americans. It's a misunderstanding. We never literally mean that. It's just a shorthand to talk about our ancestry.
Here in Ireland, the diaspora can only get an Irish passport if they have any Irish grandparent. Here we have a distaste for the Irish Americans who travel to Ireland expecting it to have unchanged since Grandad Patrick had his photo taken outside his cottage in 1899. His cottage now is either a holiday house for someone or was razed to the ground for house building or a new road. I can categorically say that do not see them as Irish ( I do think maybe it’s just with Americans, I mean if you are Irish Italian no problem)
Isn't it unfair to see people of Irish ancestry from other countries as Irish but not Irish-Americans?
I see your point. Yet I see from other perspective, as a second generation American, who’s returned to Europe the homeland, American-XYZ are just Americans. There’s a distinct cultural difference and a huge reluctance to embrace the culture. You see a lot of Americans just pushing themselves onto other people and not adjusting accordingly (ie inability or refusal to read the room)…
That’s why I guess you could say for those of us mixed Europeans, we see each other as Europeans and grant passes for Irish Italians, etc.
You can transpose this also to the UK. I actually possess dual UK-Italian nationality. I am born and bred in Bedford, UK which has the highest number of people of Italian descent in the UK. My paternal grandparents (ethnically I am half-Italian) only ever spoke dialect and were in the minority of returning to Italy when they retired. I visited all the time when I was younger and stopped after they died. It is difficult, you grow up in a microcosm in the Bedford Italian community and visiting a very small village in Calabria, and then visit the North as a tourist and are completely unable to relate. I never say I am Italian (I consider myself British) but when I speak in accented (proper) Italian, people ask why and I explain and then are generally genuinely interested.
As an American with Italian roots living in Italy, who has impending Italian citizenship, I will always identify as an American. When asked by locals who are curious about my strangely accented Italian or surprised when I ask them to parlare un po’ più lentamente “perché non so parlare BENISSIMO l’italiano”, I say I am American but that my grandmother was “marchigiana”. I feel this respectfully conveys my degree of “l’italianità” while acknowledging that I understand I am a “straniera”.
My experience living in different east coast US regions with a notable Italian diaspora is that some Italian-Americans seem to make being “Italian” their whole personality despite most of us having connections to Italy that are tenuous at best. I’m sure that could be off-putting to native Italians.
This is a topic I have spent years thinking about. I am glad you used the word family. Today, the legal and political machinations of a powerful few have issued not just a death blow to a century and a half of distant but vital relationships, they have unknowingly just ended any chance that Italy will survive as an Italian nation. What Tajani’s law destroyed was the golden opportunity that all other nations facing an aging population and a rapidly declining replacement rate would kill for.
Instead of understanding and welcoming the nearly limitless energy, love, pride and history of ethnic Italians living in the US and other countries, and harnessing that to thrust Italy into vibrant, growing, rich and prosperous nation, the Tajani law has now sacrificed a bright future for political greed.
As an Italian-American and dual-citizen born in the US but with 100% Italian blood going back centuries, it is heartbreaking. Instead of twisting legal processes, playing semantics with the Italian Constitution, and pretending this will all save Italy, the Italian government should be creating programs to invite young diaspora populations with strong connections to Italy to experience it first hand: National programs to allow young people from America and other diaspora nations to visit, stay in some of the hundreds of thousands of to be forever vacant apartments, come to concerts, enjoy free language training, meet their Italians peers, stay connected, (many will fall in love not only with Italy but with one another), return often, marry, bring wealth, investment and the same lifeblood that emigrated in the 18th and 19th centuries HOME.
This, not legal moats, is the what should have been done. The greatest national public relations program since the postwar boom would have reinvigorated countless families, towns, regions and, over time, industries and the economy itself.
When I return with my family to land of all my great-grandparents and grand parents, I don’t do so as a visitor, I do so as a a muratore laying a brick for the future - a future of reunification, heritage and cultural pride. My children have been recognized as Italian citizens from brith through the Caso 1948 process. They speak Italian. We have close relatives and generational friends. We own an apartment (not inherited from my ancestors who had nothing but heartbreak when they left Italy to end up in mines, sweatshops and hospitals - those who stormed the beaches and jumped out of planes in 1943 to LIBERATE Italy from the Nazis), but as an investment out of love because we cherish those who came before us and value what they have and the land, culture, faith and lives they sacrificed.
I am not alone. There are literally millions like me. And instead of allowing us, like the diaspora who came before us, to contribute, to transform, to strengthen Italy from afar, the Italian government has told us :”vaffanculo, you are dead to me.” As we watch Italy isolate itself, consumed by the “EU” and its latest hidden economic slave war on its neighbors, we will turn the other cheek, because that’s what you do when someone in the family screws up.
Svegliati, Italia! The Tajani law is a Trojan horse. It is not protecting you, it is accelerating your decline.
I'm an American with zero Italian ancestry, but I found your post fascinating.
I found myself reflecting on being American while on a 3-week trip to the UK last year. My most recent immigrant ancestor (my great-grandfather) came to the U.S. from Denmark sometime in the 1860s. The rest of my traceable family were here much earlier.
This is a reflection I wrote as part of a much longer piece about my trip:
"Americans often label ourselves as being from whatever mother country our ancestors came from. It’s confusing to people living in these countries, who think of us as simply Americans.
"And despite my fascination with researching my family’s roots, I realized while traveling this time that I think of myself as American, too. I’m the product of many people who traveled to our shores, willingly and unwillingly, some as far back as 400 years ago.
"It’s not those bloodlines that define us. And as we undergo another internal convulsion regarding the definition of being American, it’s never been more clear to me that those trying to redefine us by religion and ancestry are dead wrong.
"The metaphor of a melting pot was never entirely accurate but it’s not wrong to say that our strength as a nation comes from the kaleidoscope of cultures, nationalities, religions and races that call this place home. We *all* belong here."
Thanks Barbara. Just imagine what the USA would be like without the “kaleidoscope of cultures, nationalities, religions and races that call this place home.” Stephen Miller’s whitewashed dream.
Great article, Antonio, and a pretty spot on depiction of my childhood experience growing up in a 100% Italian-American household in 1960’s upstate NY. My paternal grandfather and his brother emigrated from Lazio (provincia di Latina) in the 1920’s, and my mother’s family from Molise ( Campobasso). I grew up hearing the dialects as well as words like gabagool. My grandparents discouraged Italian at home, and my parents never learned the language. When I became fluent years later, my maternal grandmother would always make a point of playfully poking fun at my “fancy Italian”.
I’m a dual American-Canadian citizen whose grandfather emigrated to the USA about 120 years ago. Through DNA matches, I’ve connected with Sicilian relatives in recent years. I’ve been to Sicily twice and met 34 cousins, all of whom warmly welcomed me into their lives and homes. Those connections were undoubtedly enhanced by my ability to speak Italian reasonably well. I’m thrilled to have made these connections with my Sicilian family.
I once worked for an Italian company based in the north. From time to time. US employees would travel to Italy for training and such, while Italian employees would come to the US.
To say there was tension between the Italians and Italian Americans is an understatement. Part of it is surely down to the north / south hostility you pointed out. Most of the Italian Americans in western Pennsylvania are descendants of southerners.
The bigger issue was over who the “real” Italians were. Neither side was willing to give an inch (or centimeter) on that front.
It's nice you addressed this. I've thought about writing about this.
This is a European habit that stems from ignorance frankly. Americans don't say they are Irish, German, or Italian because they wish they could live in Europe or are jealous of the culture. They say it because we are all recent immigrants. Almost everyone's great grandparents fled Europe so they wouldn't starve to death so there is a cultural memory still there. It's just a way to start a conversation.
It's ironic how some Europeans call us "ugly Americans" because of cultural ignorance yet this is a prevalent issue of cultural ignorance among Europeans. It also adds to the "elitist European" stereotype most Americans think of about Europeans.
I love Italy. I am 50% Italian. I have a nonno and nonna. There are many things Italians do that is way better than us especially in regards to food. Kindergarten was a culture shock for me as a child when I realized what other Americans ate. 🤣 I also would never move to Italy despite those positives.
I never knew the stereotype about Napolitanos. My nonno was Napolitano and everyone jokes his family is crazy but fun so I guess this checks out with what the rest of Italy thinks! 🤣 I definitely take after him so that's probably why I chose to be the comedy muse 🤣 .
I'm going to Italy in the fall and I'm definitely looking forward to it!
(Also most Europeans are not rude and make fun of Americans who say they are Italian. It's just a very vocal minority. )
In my community our Italians are pretty conservative and trumpers.
Does Italy need to give out citizenships to connect with the diaspora?
There are a lot of other ways. You can have preferential visas that give work rights in Italy (but not the rest of the EU). If people stay on then you can give them citizenship, like any other immigrant.
I am italian american with family still in abruzzo., my grandparents spoke English as well as italian but never taught us the language. They wanted us to be American .
As all 4 of my grandparents naturalized we don’t qualify for citizenship.
My grandfather, as the eldest son inherited his families land in a coastal city. He gave it to his sister who remained and my cousins still live in that property today. My grandmothers eldest brother also gave her family land to his cousins. They, like many sons and daughters sent money to their families who remained in italy throughout their lives.
During the war they sent not only money but penicillin and other medical supplies. Im sure they were not alone in doing this.
We were taught to be proud of our italian ancestry even though it was looked down on in the american caste system. It makes me sad to hear that our italian cousins don’t hold our heritage in the same esteem.
Ill go cry into my “scadole” soup now
Mb — if obtaining Italian citizenship is still of interest to you, you should know an important fact: as long as one of your parents was born before both of his/her parents (your paternal or maternal grandparents) naturalized, you probably do qualify. At least that’s how it worked before the Tajani decree. And I’m guessing it still works that way. That said, if you do decide to apply, be ready for a long process. It took me four years … but it was worth it.
Unfortunately all of them were born within two years of them natutalizing .
Really good article. I was wondering about this Italian reluctance to accept American Italians in relation to the Italian attitude to people with mixed or different ethnic roots who consider themselves Italian or in terms of nationality, are Italian. The attitude is confused and uneducated. An Italian stops being Italian in America and becomes American. But a mixed Moroccan/Italian born in Italy wouldn't be accepted as Italian. The cultural markers would be present for an Italian but the Moroccan element would render him “not Italian”… By that reasoning an Italian would remain Italian after generations in America, but no. The phrase “if a pig is born in a stable it doesn't become a horse” has been spotted a lot lately. The stupidity leaves me speechless.
Campanilismo 🤩 didnt know that one, what an eloquent metaphor
At 80, I just received word that my Italian citizenship has been restored through my grandmother but the above article gives me food for thought about establishing a second residence in Italy. So like "real Italians' are protective of their native status?