A very enjoyable and educational video. I am a second generation Italian American from Chicago. My grandparents came from Naples and also Abruzzo. Because we grew up in the 1950s, the last generation of city neighborhoods that were heavily concentrated with Italian immigrants and first generation Italian Americans as were my parents, we lived in two adjoining row houses that my paternal grandparents owned from the early 1900s. So in 6 apartments in addition to my mother and father and maternal grandmother, in another apartment were my paternal aunt, uncle and my godfather, my father's youngest brother. My paternal grandfather lived on the first floor and he was a tailor ('sarto') and had a small business. He lived in a small aparment behind the shop. My maternal grandmother, a widow, lived in the apartment above us. So I had all these family members in two buildings. The food was indeed Italian American: pastas, red sauces, meat, bread, and lots of vegetables such as eggplants. A lot of their cooking by their own admission was the cooking of 'poor people' from the 1900s that they remembered having as children. One distinction however: while we were culturally Catholic, like Italians, our family was not very religious at all but they were indeed patriotic like many Americans.
@@HowtoItaly-2004 Another characteristic of some first generation Italian Americans as my (now deceased) parents. They were born in Chicago in 1920 and 1922. My father's parents were immigrants from Abruzzo. Grandfather had already learned to read and write basic English before he came to Ellis Island, New York in 1911. My grandmother, like many wives at that time never learned much English although she could speak it a little. Many grandparents did not teach Italian to their first generation American children. In the early 20th century it was the prevailing sentiment among many new immigrants such as my grandfather, for his children to be "assimilated" into American culture, patriotism and the English language. My father, who played sports, always regretted that he never took the time or had the opportunity to learn Italian. His older sister, however, learned both standard Italian and the Abruzzese dialect from their mother; my father's sister (la mia zia) took classes in Italian at a "Saturday School" to learn the language. Many of the first generation Italian American fathers and mothers I remember in our neighborhood in Chicago could only speak a few words of dialect on occasion: Napolitani, Calabrese, Abruzzese. Most never learned Italian. As a result, as I am a second generation Italian American, I only learned very basic Italian from my Abruzzese grandfather when I was 9, 10, 11 and 12 years old. He rarely spoke his dialect because he said, as the owner of a small business, (un sarto) he felt it was important to communicate in English. He would, however speak Italian or Abruzzese to certain Italian customers who couldn't speak English very well. Becoming an American citizen was very important to our grandfather.
Some Italian Americans here in US are more knowledgeable the you think about Italian culture customs and food and History. We are well aware where exactly we came from in Southern Italy and now we even have dual citizenship ! Our parents still live with us and we have Macaroni every Sunday and throughout the week !!
@bobbyc4495 100% correct we are proud who we are we built nyc we created some of the best cuisine in the world our italian cousins should stop making fun of us
Excellent video Professor Coniglio! It's very interesting to watch - as an Italian-American - a professor taking time to academically analyze and record these differences between our shared cultures. Many of these topics or differences are not consciously questioned or noticed by the general community. Having settled in New York, amongst almost all Italian immigrants - Both sides of my family were relatively insulated from "Americanization" or assimilation until my generation, when my parents moved to the suburbs of New York to raise me. Having grown up between the Italian-American culture, and general American North-East Culture, I've lived through/noticed all of these differences myself, and it's very odd to be in the position of walking between cultures and "codeswitching" amongst my generationally "American" peers but, also noticing where I come from is distinctly not "authentically" Italian. I will definitely continue to follow your channel and your work because it's so relieving to see someone finally documenting all of this with genuine curiosity - especially from an Italian perspective - without any pretentiousness, elitism, or looking down on us Italian-Americans as bastardized caricatures.
A brilliant analysis of the subject. As an Italian American living in Italy, this program has explained many of the things I was wondering about. This should be a book… It is controversial and would be a best seller bravo Professor.
Very interesting observations! I am second generation Italian-American (actually only 1/2; the other half is German). As I get older, I regret not being more active in maintaining my ties with my grandmother, and the ties to Italy.
Very interesting, and thank you for sharing this! I am first/second generation Italian American, and grew up with strong "old world" values and culture. My family was from Molise and Puglia. Aside from my grandfathers who worked on the East Coast in the early 1900's (one going back and forth to Italy), my father, and most of the rest of my extended family settled in California in the 1940's and 50's. Italian was spoken in our houses, we made authentic Italian food and shopped the Italian store regularly. We had yummy pasta dinners every Sunday, and also during the week! ...salami, meatball sandwiches, great cheeses, bean soups, etc.Though we all have of course over the years adopted a good amount of the American culture, we also have maintained much of the "Italian" ways, and our close multi-generational family ties. Family is very important to our sense of well-being, and the Italian traditions are revered and still embraced. I love Italy!!
I am from the US having an Italian background and have studied history. * The first difference in the video, Geography, between Italians and Italian Americans is absolutely right. Italian Americans are almost all Southern Italian Americans. - However, while the video mentions that Italian immigrants to the US arrived in the late 1800s and early 1900s, that needs to be emphasized more with these other video headings; Food, Religion and Patriotism. * Food; the most authentic Italian American family food, such as in New York, is from late 1800s Southern Italian cooking. It is more than Alfredo sauce. Italian American red sauce can be cooked much longer than modern Italian red sauce (see the movie “Goodfellas”) and that influences many US Italian dishes. * Religion; in the late 1800s, religion was more widespread in Southern Italy. That tradition was maintained in the US such as through the Knights of Columbus. * Patriotism; In the 1800s and early 1900s patriotism was widespread in Italy when several wars involving Italy were fought. That patriotic tradition was also carried over to the US by immigrants. ** Rather than just saying that US culture influenced US Italian immigrants with these headings, it is important to point out the influences from late 1800s Southern Italy brought to the US. - However, there is one exception to my point under the Family heading in the video which is correct. Family bonds have been weakened in the US due to US cultural influences.
Thank you so much for this incredibly educated comment. I really, really want this kind of viewership. So, subscribe!!youtube.com/@HowtoItaly-2004?_confirmation=1
VERY NICE VIDEO! I am a 50 year old, second generation Italian-American so I am old enough to remember my immigrant relatives who came directly from Italy. My nona took me to Calabria 2x and I have gone on my own several times. I feel connected to the old country. As far as food. Italian American foods are themselves not bad at all and some are really quite great. Here is the problem; like all Americans from all cultures people get lazy, they cut corners, they prioritize cost and expediency over quality, taste and texture. A properly made Italian-American style meatball, chicken parmasean, chicken francese, or shrimp fra diavol are all delicious things. The problem is wherever I get them they're made with substandard ingredients and the techniques and procedures are rushed or skipped. It is usually complete crap. During covid I spent a lot of time perfecting my old world Italian cooking techniques and have largely shunned Italian American dishes. I have made it my goal to revive true Italian cooking. Quality, simplicity and technique.
With regards to food....I noticed that Italian-American, but also Argentinian-Italian have more emphasis on meat and chese quantites. So not only they had less availabilities of their traditional ingredients, but they also had more avialbility of products that coming from rural Italy at the time were scarce and that they found in abundance in their new home countires.
I also think modern italian cusine introduced greater quantities of cheese and meat, but only since the 50's, 60's and 70's, after these migration waves, and in a different way...leading to even more differences
@@simonevitiello1448 dear Simone, you made a great point, you nailed it. I will post a video about italian emigration to brazil next week of friday, so click the notification button and stay tuned!
Thanks for this thoughtful and nuanced insight into the Italian diaspora in its many branches. As a descendant of genovesi, four generations before me, who immigrated to the U.S. in the 1850s, I'm somewhat an outlier, disconnected with the great surge at the turn of the century that brought all the Italian-Americans I know today. Within a generation or two, my ancestors lost their connections to the mother country: knowledge of language, food and extended family relationships faded. So it's not surprising that I never learned much about their lives in Liguria and why they left.
Oh my God!!! Please stick around because my phd thesis was on family like yours!!!!!!!!! The PRE great diaspora period. The niche emigration of people from Liguria and Piemonte. I am a specialist on this topic. Do you have any documents??? Please subscribe and write me in private!
I consider myself Italian American… My mom’s family came here from Napoli and Roccasecca, Frosinone. When I was born my mother, father, me, my two uncles on my father’s side and paternal grandmother all lived in the same building. My maternal grandmother, great aunt and uncle, my napoletana great grandmother, ciociara great grandmother and an aunt all lived in the building across the street. My mom worked during the day and dad drove trucks at night. My dad or my great grandmothers would take care of me during the day. I lived this way for four years then my family and my fathers family left the building we were in and moved elsewhere. While my mom’s family stayed until I was about 19. It was such a great situation to live in for a few years and great to have holidays there my entire childhood. I’m realizing now how Italian it was… very similar to how families live together in Italy and I’m so thankful for that part of my heritage lasting for at least a little while here in America. 🇮🇹 🇺🇸
Professor, it would be very interesting if you had a discussion on these same topics with other professors/writers but from the southern places where most Italian Americans are from (Sicily, Calabria, etc.)-does what you say from your Roman perspective hold true for people in the south?
This is why, as I am from the US and not Italian but in a heavily settled area, Lidia Bastianich, celebrity chef, is interesting. Mrs. Bastianich is from what is now Puta, Croatia. That's too bad, Alfredo is wonderful. But not many people eat beef tongue sandwiches today. Apparently they were all the rage in the late 1800s.
You know what would be interesting? That survey you showed, which asked if people would fight to defend their country, should be given to Italian Americans. Except the question should be, "Would you fight to protect "the old country?" I think you would be surprised at the response. I expect you would find more Italian-Americans willing to fight for Italy, than Italians. My Italian American experience, as a genXer, has been one of intense connection and pride regarding "Itly." Yes that's how it was said growing up - no "a" was pronounced. I grew up in the New Haven, CT area. We are of Neapolitan descent. When I became a teenager and could drive, I started venturing to other Italian festivals throughout the state. I was shocked when I attended an Italian Festival in Middletown, CT. They looked like us but were shorter, darker, and hairier (and I thought I was hairy). They sort of spoke like my people- with differences. It was Italian, but not the same Italian. The food was similar, but not the same, and not as good, according to my limited palate. This was my first experience with Sicilian, and they were different than us. I had a hard time, as a young person, understanding how they were Italian too. We grow up American, but despite the strong cultural connection to "the old country," we don't know much about it. The generations that came here, didn't want us to be Italian, they wanted us to be American, yet all the subsequent generations - we all want to be Italian!
This is an incredible comment, really! Thank you so much. You are probably right. Italianamericans would be more willing to defend Italy than Italians. And this is also because ItalianAmericans are used to the idea that your homeland must be protected at all costs. It is the American mentality. We do not have it here.
I have always been very interested in the differences between Northern and Southern Italian culture. As a 3rd-generation Armenian-American, this resonates with me a lot, because we have a similar, in fact even more extreme issue between modern day Armenia and the Armenian Diaspora. Prior to WWI, Armenia had not had independence for 543 years! It existed as provinces of the Ottoman Turkish, Persian, and Russian Empires. Broadly speaking, Western Armenia, under Ottoman rule, and the numerous Armenian communities spread thru Anatolia and Istanbul had one language and culture, and Eastern Armenia, mostly under Russian rule, (but before 1828 under Persia, which still retained a small section), had a different language and culture. Since Western Armenia and all the Armenians in Anatolia were decimated in the Armenian Genocide of 1915, today's Armenia is Eastern Armenia, which declared independence in 1918 after the Russian revolution overthrew the Czars, was then annexed by the new Communist regime in 1920, and gained independence at the fall of the USSR in 1991. Though all/most Armenians nominally belong to the same Orthodox Christian church and are the same "nation" (ethnic group), Western Armenian culture from Anatolia is closer to Middle Eastern cultures and is looked down upon by the Russianized and quasi-Europeanized Eastern Armenians from the Caucasus. And the vast majority of Armenian-Americans, up until 20 years ago, have been of Western Armenian origin and culture. The parallels are striking: Armenians who immigrated to America 100 years ago have more connection to a rural, regional village culture with heavy religious elements, and "non-Western" cultural attributes, focused on traditional values, ethnic foods and so on, while Armenians from modern Armenia are more secular, have a nation-state mentality, and often promote European high culture. The only difference is that because the Western Armenians were connected to the outside world thru their community in Istanbul, while Eastern Armenians were connected by being a backwater province of Russia, oftentimes the Western Armenians are more cosmopolitan and more prosperous than emigrants from today's Armenia. Secondly, and fortunately for those suffering from the culture clash, Armenian culture had already become quite Diaspora-oriented to begin with (due to the 543 years without state sovereignty and 330 more years before that in an "exile state"), giving our culture some similarities with that of the Jews. Therefore, Armenians in Armenia today have no problem in theory with Armenian-Americans calling themselves "Armenian." They are, however, often puzzled by what we consider as the key components or even important secondary traits of "being Armenian." Their language, music, dance, and typical foods are all different as well!
Thank you so much for sharing this amazing story about the Armenian culture. It is extremely fascinating, really!. If you enjoy north, south differences in Italy, I got you covered because on september 27th, 2 pm new york time, I will post a video about this. Subscribe and hit the notification button.
Well done, and your English is excellent. Bravissimo! I am an Italian-American whose grandparents immigrated to the U.S. from Puglia about 100 years ago and settled in New York City. I am currently pursuing Italian citizenship by descent, and I hope to have an Italian passport sometime next year. Eventually, I hope to live in Italy too. I know why southern Italians immigrated to the U.S. They were fleeing poverty. However, I don't know much about why northern Italians went to South America. I look forward to your future videos. Grazie!
P.S. On your topic of religion, I've long found it interesting that most Italians don't go to church, yet every town in Italy has at least one big festival every year in honor of a saint. In the U.S., for the most part, the only people who venerate the saints are those who go to Mass regularly. It is rare to find a public celebration for a saint since that would be considered "religious." So it seems odd (to me) that Italians love their patron saints so much, but they don't love the Mass, the sacraments, and participating in the life of the local parish -- something that was very important to the saint.
Ok both your comments are supper interesting. For the first one, I got you covered for both the Northern italian emigration to Brazili and, the week after, the differences between northern and southern Italy. For the religion, it is exactly as you said: in Italy religion now is just traditions, saints, festivals and the cultural part in general. In the US, due to the radical protestant background, there is nothing like that, but many people are still deeply religiious.
@@HowtoItaly-2004 Now I'm going to have to check. There used to be Italian festivals here (in RI USA). It could be there are less now and that they are having the problem the local Greek festival is having. They are having trouble getting the next generation on board and the insurances and costs for police are now very high. Usually, as with the local Indian Tribe PowWow, if the hold it on any public lands they have to invite the public. This adds to the costs.
La storia della pasta Alfredo è completamente scentrata. La pasta in bianco o al burro e parmigiano certamente è sempre esistita e non è per nulla scomparsa dalla tradizione italiana (io sono cresciuto mangiandola qui in Lombardia). Semplicemente nessuno la chiama pasta Alfredo perché la pasta Alfredo così chiamata nasce come una sorta di rebrand della pasta al burro fatta da Alfredo di Alfredo della Scrofa e preparata per molti attori hollywoodiani che, non avendo mai mangiato una cosa simile ne hanno riportato la fama negli USA. Ma: a) la pasta Alfredo oggi negli USA è soprattutto una pasta piena di panna, mai prevista nella ricetta originale b) nessuno in Italia mangia la pasta Alfredo perché la pasta Alfredo non è altro che la normalissima pasta in bianco che ti davano da bambino e che ancora si mangia ovunque. La questione Grandi sarebbe molto da discutere, diciamo che molto spesso l'impressione è che spari apposta ad alzo zero per creare engagement e discussione.
@@HowtoItaly-2004 grazie per la risposta, però, a parte assicurarsi di emulsionare molto la pasta con dell'acqua di cottura non mi è molto chiaro in che modo sarebbero diverse le fettuccine Alfredo da una normalissima pasta burro e parmigiano. :D
Esatto.l'ho scritto anche io. Sarebbe una burro e parmigiano mantecata.sempre mangiata. Alfredo sarebbe Alfredo alla scrofa,il ristorante che la fece a Mary Pickford che poi la rese famosa in USA.nel ristorante ci sono le posate d'oro regalate dagli attori.ma naturalmente in america la ricetta,semplicissima, è stata aggiustata x i loro gusti,stravolgendola.poi loro ci piazzano sopra pollo e quant'altro.
Meno male che su Grandi c'è qualcuno che non si fa abbindolare dai titoli e dai metodi accademici. Un conto è raccogliere i fatti e i dati, e su questo non ho motivo di aver dubbi sul suo rigore. Un altro è fornirne poi la propria lettura di storico, che può essere anche molto deformante, di proposito o involontariamente. Nel suo caso, a me è sembrato chiaro che voglia appunto fare un po' il "bastian contrario", il colto demolitore di dogmi nazional-popolari, appunto per creare interesse.
Io vivo in America da 16 anni e ne ho 45 quindi conosco molto bene entrambe le culture. Secondo me hai dimenticato due differenze molto importanti tra italiani e italoamericani che si definiscono italiani. In Italia la stragrande maggioranza delle persone ha un’idea generale della geografia e dei differenti dialetti e usanze che si trovano in giro per l’Italia e soprattutto hanno come principale interesse il calcio. Gli italoamericani anche se sono prima o seconda generazione quindi famiglie arrivate negli ultimi 50 anni. Sanno molto poco o nella maggior parte dei casi nulla dell’Italia e non hanno alcun interesse per il calcio.
I found it interesting that the majority of Italian Americans have roots from the south of Italy. I’m Italian American with dual citizenship. My mother’s parents came from Toscana, near Lucca. My father’s parents came from Piemonte, west of Torino. All of them emigrated to the west coast, specifically San Francisco. I’m looking forward to seeing more content on this channel.
This is interesting because probably your families emigrated earlier than the standard italians during the Great Diaspora. In California there were small communities of people from Piedmont and Liguria since the 1840s
@@HowtoItaly-2004Italians from the north had a relatively pleasant existence as farmers until agriculture prices fell in the late 1800s. These families moved to California and to Latin America where they maintained an agricultural life. The Mezzogiorno was a bitch for peasant farmers and their families migrated to cities instead.
Excellent observations, many of your observations apply to the Canadian-Italian experience. In Quebec, immigration was primarily during the inter-war period. In Ontario it was in the post war period. The Gen-X Quebec Italians typically do not speak Italian and understand more dialect than standard Italian. In Ontario, Gen-X went to "Saturday school" and now speak standard Italian.
thank you so much for you comment. I absolutely want to make a video about the Italian canadian experience before it is very interesting and I have distant relatives in Toronto Area. In my opinion italian canadians are a little bit more italian than italian americans becasue canadian culture is less imposing.
@@HowtoItaly-2004 That's a great point. Canadian culture was and still is more permissive of other cultures. It was not only considered "shameful" but dangerous to speak Italian in the US especially during WWII when Italy was our enemy. Canada also saw much more immigration after WWII than the US did. I also think Toronto and Montreal remained more "Italian" than the US because the immigrant communities there were even more insular with virtually everyone coming from Calabria (an insular part even within Italy). Unfortunately I only know how to speak our dialect so when we travel back to Calabria, nobody believes that we are from the US. Everybody there assumes we are Italo Canadians! Lol
If you are interested in Brazilian Italians i will post the video next friday. I think it is a nice short documentary. Click the notification button and stay tuned!
I'm 5 generations removed from my last Italian ancestor, yet we've maintained the tomato sauce recipe 🤣 I also didn't realize until recently that the meal I make when I'm too lazy to cook is actually pasta mollicata
@@HowtoItaly-2004 My grandfather's grandmother is my last Italian connection. Her father was from Calabria & her mother from Sicily. But they immigrated to Trieste where she was born & would marry my Austrian great×2 grandad. Why do you ask?
I remember going to the San Genaro festival in NY and seeing a T-shirt that said "America...We discovered it...We named it...We built it." Italian-American Pride.
Me, have italian american coworker: Dude we are both Latin!!! Italo american: no, we are not the same!!! 🤷🏻♂️ Me, in Italy: Buenos días!! Italian shop owner: oh, Spanish, we are both Latin, we love you. Here have a free bottle of wine, and some cheese!!! ❤️❤️❤️❤️ Love Italy!!!
Yeah it's amazing how Italian immigrants in the US are considered "white" but the same Italian immigrants in south America are considered Latino by the US lol.
@@Pontxo81 Yes it is wild how the same Italian emmigrants would be either officially considered "white" or "latino" depending if they went to the US or South America.
Professor, my grandmother and her family came over from Fubine in the early 1900’s. My grandmother and her cousins all said the big difference as far as food was concerned was here there is a lot of good meat cheap. Especially compared to back home. My great grandfather said that on Sundays in Fubine all the brothers and sisters, the grandparents the spouses and the children would gay together in the big house for Sunday dinner and the would string trout on a clothesline across the dining room table and toss polenta over the fish so everyone got a taste of fish with the polenta. They came to New York and settled in Hell’s Kitchen eventually living over a speakeasy. There was a gentleman from Glastonbury Connecticut who would come down to New York every week or so to search out people from the Allesandro and Asti areas. He was looking for other Italians to come live in Glastonbury. Glastonbury is full of Northern Italians. Many from Fubine.
This is a great point!!! Italians who came to the US were absolutely NOT use to eat meat. They were poor and their diet was based on grains. One of the causes the modification of the italian diet in America is the availability of meat. You are absolutely right!
I'm glad to have discovered your channel. It is becoming clearer to me, that what I learned, as a 2nd generation American, is so different from what I have witnessed as a visitor. It was also humorous to me when I recall a common phrase that was repeated; "what part of Italy do you come from?". You touched on the diaspora of the South vs. the North and I was warned of people from certain regions of Italy were not to be trusted. After visiting the country, I always come away with recurring thoughts of how bad it must have been to want to leave such a beautiful country.
So true! My family is Northern (Piemonte/Lombardia) and purist. I don't identify with most Italian-American food and customs. Thank you for clarifying this.
From Lombardy: I have been watching some Italian American videos, which confirm the need for "How to Italy". Bravo Professore! In particular, you do well to stress that life for most people in Italy today is very far from being "laid back". Magari! ;-)
@@HowtoItaly-2004 The region of Lombardy has 10.06 million people, 35 thousand less than Sweden (18th largest country in Europe) and 1 million more than Hungary (19th largest), so it is No. 18.5. ;-) Italy as a whole is around 60 million. In terms of GDP, it comes after Belgium (12) and before Austria (13). Italy as a whole is No. 4, after Germany, UK and France. If Lombardy were a US state, it would rank 9.5., after North Carolina (9) and before Michigan (10) for its population, and 14.5 , after Michigan (149 and before Colorado (15) for its GDP. In terms of size, if Lombardy were a US state, it would be be 46.5, after New Hampshire (46) and before New Jersey (47). Italy as a whole would be 5.5 after New Mexico (5) and before Arizona (6).
@@HowtoItaly-2004 PS. If Lombardy were a US state, it would rank 9.5., after North Carolina (9) and before Michigan (10) for its population, and 14.5 , after Michigan (149 and before Colorado (15) for its GDP.
Thank you for this video. Most of my family arrived in the USA before 1905. Almost all identified as farmers or laborers on their documents. I learned that the biggest adjustment was the low cost and abundance of meat. They combined their home made pastas and breads with whatever sauces they could make, along with a lot of meat. I learned to cook from my grandmothers and they would say “we would only eat this” meaning the sauce or vegetable. Also there were the strong culinary traditions of single-plate meals from the English, Irish and Germans that played a role in the move from multiple courses to a single starch-meat-veg serving. I look forward to more of your videos. Pete
Wow! I greatly enjoyed your video. Thanks! I did not hear any errors in English grammar, by the way. I have several thoughts that I'd like to share with you. 1) My grandparents immigrated from Sicily in 1905 and settled in New York City. So, growing up, I was surrounded by many relatives that were from Italy, and the cultural features were very strong, especially family, religion, and food. Now, my grand nieces and grand nephews all have Italian names, but they look like they are from Norway. Blond hair, blue eyes, big strong athletic bodies. That's because, of course, in America, most people have multiple ethnicities. I think the idea of an Italian American is now an anachronism. It won't even exist in another generation. 2) My great grandparents were named Michele and Theresa. Today, I have are nine relatives in my immediate family named Michele (or Michelle, or Michael) and 8 named Theresa. The durability of the naming tradition is interesting and charming, in my opinion. 3) On religion, many Italian Americans have abandoned Catholicism after the awful betrayal of the child sex scandals. I do not believe that the American Catholic Church has done any significant Penance for that. 4) We ate lots of authentic Italian food in our family growing up, even though my mother is French/English by ancient heritage. It was maintained by our many relatives from Italy. Today, people cook Italian food as a hobby, not as an every day practice. 5) You must have a huge family home to be able to accommodate many generations. American homes are generally large, but I still can not see them filled by so many as you described. Cheers!
You made many great points!! Yes, there is the chance that, generation by generation, the Italian american culture will disappear almost completely, as it has happened with the German and Irish ones.
Italians living in Italy frequently take a dim view of how their American counterparts have interpreted and in many ways re-invented the cuisine from the homeland. Their criticisms are often harsh and inflexible, citing that anything less than a religious adherence to the original recipes constitutes a culinary heresy. New World favorites such as Spaghetti and Meatballs and Chicken Parmigiana are virtually unheard of, let alone prepared in home kitchens there. How quick they forget that Italian cuisine on the mother peninsula (and in Sicily and Sardinia, as well) is hardly a uniform expression of the culture, with each region having its own traditions and specialties - - many of which are foreign to Italians in other regions within the same country. I prefer to drop the arbitrary construct of political borders and instead consider the "Italian Diaspora" as a varied and dynamic entity within itself. Perhaps it is more accurate to consider Italian-American as simply another region within the culinary universe that is, ultimately, Italian! After all, many of the defining elements of Italian-American cooking have more in common with some areas in southern Italy (the source of many of the immigrants who found their way to our shores) than, say, Naples or Calabria share with Milan or Venice. That said, what is endemic to all Italian regional cuisines is a reliance upon fresh ingredients, intense flavors, and a preparation that is passionate and loving. It has finesse without pretense. It is genuine, it is honest, it keeps you wanting more - - it is Italian regardless of which side of the Atlantic it was prepared on. One may say that Italian America is an enclave of Italian tradition and heritage since lost on the European continent.
@@HowtoItaly-2004 I'd like to suggest, also, that as social media and ease of international travel continues to evolve, the two cultures on either side of the Atlantic are becoming less divergent and "merging" closer once again; this is especially apparent regarding culinary practices, but evident in other aspects of daily life as well.
Found your channel through NYTN's channel. Promises to have some great content on here! Subscribed and liked. Greetings from a Dutchman living and working in Marsala (TP) on the western point of Sicily! I wonder if people in Nova York eat arancini...
Form wilipedia Alberto Grandi (born July 29th 1967)[1] is an Italian Marxist[2][3][4] academic Typical for a leftist is to denigrate Italy, it's not a case if A.G. is a communist. Leftist ideology is against the catholic religion and for them patriotism is equal fascism. They'd like very much if the E.U. could dominate us completely and we will lose every little bit of sovranity. So everything is about politics not traditions or whatever. You don't know the origin of Alfredo's pasta.
Unfortunately, too many Italian-Americans have a very stereotypical view of Italy - its culture and its History. As for their views on food (and you can blame a lot of actual Italians for that) most of it is heavily pasta / Pizza oriented and therefore not really developped beyond these two staples of Italian cuisine.
Another difference is that as Italian Anericans becane richer, they started using a lot of meat in their pasta dishes which isn't what Italian pasta dishes, historically the food of the poor people, look like.
Yesterday I watched the episode of Young Sheldon (S2, ep. 16), where Sheldon is accused of being a communist. Granny made me die laughing with all those American flags! 😂😂😂
Ok so I am italian but I have some french/german DNA due probably to barbarian invasion one thoisand years ago,so I am french or german? I think that if you was born in Usa you are definitely american!
@@HowtoItaly-2004 I mean you can go back in time and trace it back to Romulus and Remus but what counts is where you were born. Belmondo the famous actor had italian origin but he was born in France and he is a french actor not italian. So Madonna or Lady Gaga are american not italian
@@HowtoItaly-2004salve prof! Sono Bianca… già sentiamo la sua mancanza…. La ringrazio in particolare per le lezioni di vita che ci ha dato, più che quelle di storia e geografia. Grazie mille
Thank you for you very interesting discourse on your culture. I am not Italian but I am learning the Italian language and want to know about your culture. In your assessment of Italians not being very patriotic I wonder if their focus is more on the amazing celebrations through the year, in cities and villages in honour of saints or even historic events. USA has had a civil war but not an invasion. This was the plight of Europe during WWll . Many died, infrastructure and buildings destroyed and immense suffering. How long did it take for Italy to recover while bearing the scars of trauma. Could those memories have had an effect on war in general among the population and thereby not wanting this to happen again? Maybe you could give some feedback on these thoughts?
Thank you so much for your interesting comment! For sure the wounds of WW2 played and still play a huge role in Italians' inferiority complex toward other nations and sens of guilt.
Also I wonder if there are any remnants of the Sicilian or Italian dialects in the new world. I know for a fact there are many remnants of Dutch there, like "stoop" (pavement/sidewalk). Keep up the good work.
I totally agree with your description of Italian-American cultures. However, you should go a little deeper on why Italians, maybe it's personal, feel this hate-love relation with Italy. Thanks .for your enlightening story
It is interesting that you state Italian's have little patriotic investment. Is that even at World Cup football matches? I'll soon be making the move to reside in Italy (some where I can find a friendly comune office and magistrate) while I apply for jure sanguinis, since it is proving impossible to apply while in the States, and looking forward to discovering the differences in culture, identity and learning the language. Your views in future videos will be welcome to helping me prepare, thank you. Question, if you could help me decide what province to establish my residency while I apply for my citizenship, and even though as you correctly suggested my family originated from Southern Italy (Abruzzo), do you think an Italian-American will fare better in the South or in the North in terms of cultural acclimation? Disclaimer, my father didn't contribute to instilling in me anything about what it means to be Italian (other than admiration for good food and Italian Neorealism) and was of the generation that struggled to leave his heritage behind for obvious negative reasons endured in that era (when in America do as the Anglo-Saxon's do).
This is such an interesting comment! When Italians watch the world cup which, by the way, we have missed twice, we are very patriottic. But it lasts two weeks. It is not easy to give you an advice about the province because it depends on so many factors, especcially the way you are and your age. If you are retired, go to the south! If you need a job, go north!
Italo-Americans consider themselves as 'Italian' but as an Italian I could say sometimes we are closer to Germans than to Italo-Americans. They think to speak Italian but most of the time you could not understand what they say; they think to cook as Italians but often their 'traditional' recipes are deepy different with real Italian recipes. They have an idea of Italy that is mainly the idea of Italy that a southerner migrant could have had one hundred years ago or more. Of course there are many exceptions as for everything but maybe the place in which you grow is much more important than 'origins'. The peculiar focus on 'origins' is typical of US society but in Europe is not always so relevant. In the last 3 thousand years, Italy has been invaded by quite evrybody, so we have roots in half world populations (not to say of immigration). In Northern Tuscany there is the biggest Chinese community of Europe (around 60000 registered in Florence and Prato provinces alone, the first chinese migrants arrived durung the First World War) and specially young Italo-Chinese are more Tuscans than many Tuscans and sure more Italians than many Italo-Americans.
🤦♂🤦♂ "Half world" population.. "Invaded by quite everybody" 🤦♂🤦♂ Italy was not invaded by half the world unless you are not talking with an hyperbole, most of the people that invaded Italy invaded even other parts of Europe, such as Neolitich farmers, Gauls and Germanic folks later. Greeks in South Italy were almost genetically the same of local population even before Magna Grecia . Hystorical invasions such Spaniards or French are not "Half the world" either anyway and military invasions hardly leave a trace. It takes hundred years and mass movements like neolithic ones to change a population or else all Europe, North Africa and Near East would be all "Roman and "Germanic". Italians' dna is still pretty similar to Bronze age time, so you can quit repeating absurdities we often read in TH-cam. Also i'm from Tuscany and they are not more Tuscan than many Tuscans even if culturally they are surely more Italian than Italian Americans.
🤦♂🤦♂ "Half world" 🤦♂🤦♂ Italy was not invaded by half the world unless you are not talking with an hyperbole, most of the people that invaded Italy invaded even other parts of Europe, such as Neolitich farmers, Gauls and Germanic folks later. Greeks in South Italy were almost genetically the same of local population even before Magna Grecia . Hystorical invasions such Spaniards or French are not "Half the world" either anyway and military invasions hardly leave a trace. It takes hundred years and mass movements like neolithic ones to change a population or else all Europe, North Africa and Near East would be all "Roman and "Germanic". Italians are still pretty similar to Bronze age time by latest stuodies, so you can quit repeating absurdities we often read in the comments regarding Italians. Also i'm from Tuscany and those folk in Prato are not more Tuscan than many Tuscans even if culturally they are surely more Italian than Italian Americans.
I'm 38 and still with my folks in Florida. Do i get made fun of all the time? Yes, but my parents will be gone soon... Rather just do what is good for me
About patriotism, dott. Coniglio, I've noticed that in Brazilian communities of Italian origin, specially the isolated ones, there's a strong sense of Venetian pride. This is something I've also noted in more or less the same sense in Veneto itself. The younger oriundi generations, however, tend to classify their cultural heritage as Italian. I come from a Cimbrian family that immigrated before the Great War, so all those Venetian cultural celebrations and pride that the community did and still do never quite reasonated with us.
Please please please, subscribe and hit the notification button because next friday there will be a specific video about the Venetian Emigration to Brazil!! Do not miss it.
It actually mean LONGBARD, descendant of a germanic tribe that invaded the Italian peninsula after the fall of the western roman empire. The Milan area became their kingdom and it was called “Lombardy” as today. The last name, though, is more common in southern Italy and indicates people of the south with germanic routes. I also have LOMBARDO distant relatives in Toronto.
@@HowtoItaly-2004 you have to admit though that it’s quite funny. I am by no means disputing that „Lombardo“ or „Lombardi“ are popular names in Southern Italy 🙂.
@@HowtoItaly-2004 interestingly my father was a 100% calabrese. His parents both were born from immigrants from Calabria but met in the US. There was a pocket in Chicago with lots of Italian immigrants. They lived in little deeper pockets by the region. I recently took a trip to Italy and visited the Cosenza region where they are from and cried. I was over whelmed with emotions. it was such an amazing experience going to Calabria and I could look around and I felt like I was home like I had been there before, but I hadn’t.
I was told that when growing up. It was after my first trip to Italy that I realized that is like saying, 'I'm from New England'. That was the first step of my father sharing some of our origins that we never spoke of.
There is a large community of Tuscans in Oregon..yet nobody has ever heard of them or made a big deal as for the ones in the Eastern Coast who are mostly South Italians. Culturally and phenotypically Tuscans blended in a lot more with Aglosaxons.
Back when Italy still had a colony in Libya, the Northern Italians used to say, "Africa starts in Naples," the idea being that Southern Italians were pretty much indistinguishable from Libyan fellaheen.
Most of the americans with Italian last names call themselves "italians" despite the fact that they were not born and raised in Italy and of course... they only speak english.
@@HowtoItaly-2004correct but they also mean any culture differences I have from other Americans it’s because of my Italian heritage whether that be good or religion
@@HowtoItaly-2004 Exactly! America is a country founded & built by immigrants. EVERYONE here (except Native Americans) has their roots somewhere else. So in America "Where ya from?" means "Where is your family from?" And the answer is: We're Italian. We're Irish, We're German, etc. This is how all Americans behave, not just Italian Americans, because back in the day, America was "the melting pot."
In the 1880 to 1920 it was not a ``Italian Diaspora.`` It was a Duo-Sicilian Diaspora, most emigrants in North America wear from the ex kingdom of the Two Sicilies. Italian as a political entity did not existed. Ignorante! There was never a Southern Italian state. Professore del cavolo.
I regret to inform you that you are wrong. When the Diaspora started, in 1880, Italy had been a unified country for 19 years. The kingdom of the two sicilies was alredy dead. Most importantly, the Italian diaspora is called “italian” because people emigrated also from northern Italy to south America.
@@ninac1524so rude his English is great he just has an accent which is expected from a non native speaker. Learning a language is hard a critiques can be helpful but rudeness is unwarranted
@@maxpodrecca2946 not in the sense Americans intend Latinos. We are latinos in the sense that we derive from the latin civilitazion and we speak a romance language.
As an American who has studied Italian and met many Italians, he is spot on.
Thanks
A very enjoyable and educational video. I am a second generation Italian American from Chicago. My grandparents came from Naples and also Abruzzo. Because we grew up in the 1950s, the last generation of city neighborhoods that were heavily concentrated with Italian immigrants and first generation Italian Americans as were my parents, we lived in two adjoining row houses that my paternal grandparents owned from the early 1900s. So in 6 apartments in addition to my mother and father and maternal grandmother, in another apartment were my paternal aunt, uncle and my godfather, my father's youngest brother. My paternal grandfather lived on the first floor and he was a tailor ('sarto') and had a small business. He lived in a small aparment behind the shop. My maternal grandmother, a widow, lived in the apartment above us. So I had all these family members in two buildings. The food was indeed Italian American: pastas, red sauces, meat, bread, and lots of vegetables such as eggplants. A lot of their cooking by their own admission was the cooking of 'poor people' from the 1900s that they remembered having as children. One distinction however: while we were culturally Catholic, like Italians, our family was not very religious at all but they were indeed patriotic like many Americans.
This is such an interesting story!!!! And also your final point!! Very insightful
@@HowtoItaly-2004 Another characteristic of some first generation Italian Americans as my (now deceased) parents. They were born in Chicago in 1920 and 1922.
My father's parents were immigrants from Abruzzo. Grandfather had already learned to read and write basic English before he came to Ellis Island, New York in 1911.
My grandmother, like many wives at that time never learned much English although she could speak it a little. Many grandparents did not teach Italian to their first generation American children. In the early 20th century it was the prevailing sentiment among many new immigrants such as my grandfather, for his children to be "assimilated" into American culture, patriotism and the English language. My father, who played sports, always regretted that he never took the time or had the opportunity to learn Italian.
His older sister, however, learned both standard Italian and the Abruzzese dialect from their mother; my father's sister (la mia zia) took classes in Italian at a "Saturday School" to learn the language. Many of the first generation Italian American fathers and mothers I remember in our neighborhood in Chicago could only speak a few words of dialect on occasion: Napolitani, Calabrese, Abruzzese. Most never learned Italian.
As a result, as I am a second generation Italian American, I only learned very basic Italian from my Abruzzese grandfather when I was 9, 10, 11 and 12 years old. He rarely spoke his dialect because he said, as the owner of a small business, (un sarto) he felt it was important to communicate in English. He would, however speak Italian or Abruzzese to certain Italian customers who couldn't speak English very well. Becoming an American citizen was very important to our grandfather.
@@sgiovangelo47 thank you for sharing
@@sgiovangelo47 i love my people
My maternal grandparents were from Italy. My grandfather would never admit that he was Italian. He would identify himself as a "Siciliano".
That is very typical!
Some Italian Americans here in US are more knowledgeable the you think about Italian culture customs and food and History. We are well aware where exactly we came from in Southern Italy and now we even have dual citizenship ! Our parents still live with us and we have Macaroni every Sunday and throughout the week !!
Thank you so much for your comment!
I remember some Italians mocking Americans for saying macaroni until they discovered regional cooking and dialects. 😂😂 maccheroni forever!
Not true only about the south … they don’t even know what is Alto Adige ..
With your "macaroni" you replied to yourself.
Anyway, i would switch off the double citizenships tap. 🙂
@bobbyc4495 100% correct we are proud who we are we built nyc we created some of the best cuisine in the world our italian cousins should stop making fun of us
Excellent video Professor Coniglio!
It's very interesting to watch - as an Italian-American - a professor taking time to academically analyze and record these differences between our shared cultures. Many of these topics or differences are not consciously questioned or noticed by the general community.
Having settled in New York, amongst almost all Italian immigrants - Both sides of my family were relatively insulated from "Americanization" or assimilation until my generation, when my parents moved to the suburbs of New York to raise me. Having grown up between the Italian-American culture, and general American North-East Culture, I've lived through/noticed all of these differences myself, and it's very odd to be in the position of walking between cultures and "codeswitching" amongst my generationally "American" peers but, also noticing where I come from is distinctly not "authentically" Italian.
I will definitely continue to follow your channel and your work because it's so relieving to see someone finally documenting all of this with genuine curiosity - especially from an Italian perspective - without any pretentiousness, elitism, or looking down on us Italian-Americans as bastardized caricatures.
This comment made me cry. Thank you so much, really! Please be a subscriber because I want people like you to follow my channel
A brilliant analysis of the subject. As an Italian American living in Italy, this program has explained many of the things I was wondering about. This should be a book… It is controversial and would be a best seller bravo Professor.
You are to kind! Thank you so much!! Follow me because there will be other stuff that, hopefully, you are going to like
Very interesting observations! I am second generation Italian-American (actually only 1/2; the other half is German). As I get older, I regret not being more active in maintaining my ties with my grandmother, and the ties to Italy.
Watch my videos and the situation will improve😂😂
Very interesting, and thank you for sharing this! I am first/second generation Italian American, and grew up with strong "old world" values and culture. My family was from Molise and Puglia. Aside from my grandfathers who worked on the East Coast in the early 1900's (one going back and forth to Italy), my father, and most of the rest of my extended family settled in California in the 1940's and 50's. Italian was spoken in our houses, we made authentic Italian food and shopped the Italian store regularly. We had yummy pasta dinners every Sunday, and also during the week! ...salami, meatball sandwiches, great cheeses, bean soups, etc.Though we all have of course over the years adopted a good amount of the American culture, we also have maintained much of the "Italian" ways, and our close multi-generational family ties. Family is very important to our sense of well-being, and the Italian traditions are revered and still embraced. I love Italy!!
Thank you so much for sharing this amazing story! Italian Americans in California are rare! I studied them a lot
I am from the US having an Italian background and have studied history.
* The first difference in the video, Geography, between Italians and Italian Americans is absolutely right. Italian Americans are almost all Southern Italian Americans.
- However, while the video mentions that Italian immigrants to the US arrived in the late 1800s and early 1900s, that needs to be emphasized more with these other video headings; Food, Religion and Patriotism.
* Food; the most authentic Italian American family food, such as in New York, is from late 1800s Southern Italian cooking. It is more than Alfredo sauce. Italian American red sauce can be cooked much longer than modern Italian red sauce (see the movie “Goodfellas”) and that influences many US Italian dishes.
* Religion; in the late 1800s, religion was more widespread in Southern Italy. That tradition was maintained in the US such as through the Knights of Columbus.
* Patriotism; In the 1800s and early 1900s patriotism was widespread in Italy when several wars involving Italy were fought. That patriotic tradition was also carried over to the US by immigrants.
** Rather than just saying that US culture influenced US Italian immigrants with these headings, it is important to point out the influences from late 1800s Southern Italy brought to the US.
- However, there is one exception to my point under the Family heading in the video which is correct. Family bonds have been weakened in the US due to US cultural influences.
Thank you so much for this incredibly educated comment. I really, really want this kind of viewership.
So, subscribe!!youtube.com/@HowtoItaly-2004?_confirmation=1
great topic, very interesting. And thank you for the link!
Thank you for following me!
VERY NICE VIDEO!
I am a 50 year old, second generation Italian-American so I am old enough to remember my immigrant relatives who came directly from Italy. My nona took me to Calabria 2x and I have gone on my own several times. I feel connected to the old country.
As far as food. Italian American foods are themselves not bad at all and some are really quite great. Here is the problem; like all Americans from all cultures people get lazy, they cut corners, they prioritize cost and expediency over quality, taste and texture. A properly made Italian-American style meatball, chicken parmasean, chicken francese, or shrimp fra diavol are all delicious things. The problem is wherever I get them they're made with substandard ingredients and the techniques and procedures are rushed or skipped. It is usually complete crap.
During covid I spent a lot of time perfecting my old world Italian cooking techniques and have largely shunned Italian American dishes. I have made it my goal to revive true Italian cooking. Quality, simplicity and technique.
I think you made a great point! Please subscribe!! youtube.com/@HowtoItaly-2004?_confirmation=1
With regards to food....I noticed that Italian-American, but also Argentinian-Italian have more emphasis on meat and chese quantites. So not only they had less availabilities of their traditional ingredients, but they also had more avialbility of products that coming from rural Italy at the time were scarce and that they found in abundance in their new home countires.
I also think modern italian cusine introduced greater quantities of cheese and meat, but only since the 50's, 60's and 70's, after these migration waves, and in a different way...leading to even more differences
@@simonevitiello1448 dear Simone, you made a great point, you nailed it. I will post a video about italian emigration to brazil next week of friday, so click the notification button and stay tuned!
Thanks for this thoughtful and nuanced insight into the Italian diaspora in its many branches. As a descendant of genovesi, four generations before me, who immigrated to the U.S. in the 1850s, I'm somewhat an outlier, disconnected with the great surge at the turn of the century that brought all the Italian-Americans I know today. Within a generation or two, my ancestors lost their connections to the mother country: knowledge of language, food and extended family relationships faded. So it's not surprising that I never learned much about their lives in Liguria and why they left.
Oh my God!!! Please stick around because my phd thesis was on family like yours!!!!!!!!! The PRE great diaspora period. The niche emigration of people from Liguria and Piemonte. I am a specialist on this topic. Do you have any documents???
Please subscribe and write me in private!
I think the thing that’s horrible about the USA is family not living together or supporting each other. That’s one thing we have done here that’s bad.
The american society has a lot of lonelyness for sure. It is a fundamental part of the american model.
This is very insightful
I consider myself Italian American… My mom’s family came here from Napoli and Roccasecca, Frosinone. When I was born my mother, father, me, my two uncles on my father’s side and paternal grandmother all lived in the same building. My maternal grandmother, great aunt and uncle, my napoletana great grandmother, ciociara great grandmother and an aunt all lived in the building across the street. My mom worked during the day and dad drove trucks at night. My dad or my great grandmothers would take care of me during the day. I lived this way for four years then my family and my fathers family left the building we were in and moved elsewhere. While my mom’s family stayed until I was about 19. It was such a great situation to live in for a few years and great to have holidays there my entire childhood. I’m realizing now how Italian it was… very similar to how families live together in Italy and I’m so thankful for that part of my heritage lasting for at least a little while here in America. 🇮🇹 🇺🇸
Professor, it would be very interesting if you had a discussion on these same topics with other professors/writers but from the southern places where most Italian Americans are from (Sicily, Calabria, etc.)-does what you say from your Roman perspective hold true for people in the south?
@@brianfay6783 this is really an amazing comment and thank you for sharing your family experience on the channel! Stay tuned for the following stuff!
This is why, as I am from the US and not Italian but in a heavily settled area, Lidia Bastianich, celebrity chef, is interesting. Mrs. Bastianich is from what is now Puta, Croatia. That's too bad, Alfredo is wonderful. But not many people eat beef tongue sandwiches today. Apparently they were all the rage in the late 1800s.
Her son is super famous in Italy.
@@HowtoItaly-2004 Good to know!
You know what would be interesting? That survey you showed, which asked if people would fight to defend their country, should be given to Italian Americans. Except the question should be, "Would you fight to protect "the old country?" I think you would be surprised at the response. I expect you would find more Italian-Americans willing to fight for Italy, than Italians. My Italian American experience, as a genXer, has been one of intense connection and pride regarding "Itly." Yes that's how it was said growing up - no "a" was pronounced. I grew up in the New Haven, CT area. We are of Neapolitan descent. When I became a teenager and could drive, I started venturing to other Italian festivals throughout the state. I was shocked when I attended an Italian Festival in Middletown, CT. They looked like us but were shorter, darker, and hairier (and I thought I was hairy). They sort of spoke like my people- with differences. It was Italian, but not the same Italian. The food was similar, but not the same, and not as good, according to my limited palate. This was my first experience with Sicilian, and they were different than us. I had a hard time, as a young person, understanding how they were Italian too. We grow up American, but despite the strong cultural connection to "the old country," we don't know much about it. The generations that came here, didn't want us to be Italian, they wanted us to be American, yet all the subsequent generations - we all want to be Italian!
This is an incredible comment, really! Thank you so much.
You are probably right. Italianamericans would be more willing to defend Italy than Italians.
And this is also because ItalianAmericans are used to the idea that your homeland must be protected at all costs. It is the American mentality. We do not have it here.
I have always been very interested in the differences between Northern and Southern Italian culture. As a 3rd-generation Armenian-American, this resonates with me a lot, because we have a similar, in fact even more extreme issue between modern day Armenia and the Armenian Diaspora. Prior to WWI, Armenia had not had independence for 543 years! It existed as provinces of the Ottoman Turkish, Persian, and Russian Empires. Broadly speaking, Western Armenia, under Ottoman rule, and the numerous Armenian communities spread thru Anatolia and Istanbul had one language and culture, and Eastern Armenia, mostly under Russian rule, (but before 1828 under Persia, which still retained a small section), had a different language and culture. Since Western Armenia and all the Armenians in Anatolia were decimated in the Armenian Genocide of 1915, today's Armenia is Eastern Armenia, which declared independence in 1918 after the Russian revolution overthrew the Czars, was then annexed by the new Communist regime in 1920, and gained independence at the fall of the USSR in 1991. Though all/most Armenians nominally belong to the same Orthodox Christian church and are the same "nation" (ethnic group), Western Armenian culture from Anatolia is closer to Middle Eastern cultures and is looked down upon by the Russianized and quasi-Europeanized Eastern Armenians from the Caucasus. And the vast majority of Armenian-Americans, up until 20 years ago, have been of Western Armenian origin and culture. The parallels are striking: Armenians who immigrated to America 100 years ago have more connection to a rural, regional village culture with heavy religious elements, and "non-Western" cultural attributes, focused on traditional values, ethnic foods and so on, while Armenians from modern Armenia are more secular, have a nation-state mentality, and often promote European high culture. The only difference is that because the Western Armenians were connected to the outside world thru their community in Istanbul, while Eastern Armenians were connected by being a backwater province of Russia, oftentimes the Western Armenians are more cosmopolitan and more prosperous than emigrants from today's Armenia. Secondly, and fortunately for those suffering from the culture clash, Armenian culture had already become quite Diaspora-oriented to begin with (due to the 543 years without state sovereignty and 330 more years before that in an "exile state"), giving our culture some similarities with that of the Jews. Therefore, Armenians in Armenia today have no problem in theory with Armenian-Americans calling themselves "Armenian." They are, however, often puzzled by what we consider as the key components or even important secondary traits of "being Armenian." Their language, music, dance, and typical foods are all different as well!
Thank you so much for sharing this amazing story about the Armenian culture. It is extremely fascinating, really!.
If you enjoy north, south differences in Italy, I got you covered because on september 27th, 2 pm new york time, I will post a video about this.
Subscribe and hit the notification button.
Well done, and your English is excellent. Bravissimo! I am an Italian-American whose grandparents immigrated to the U.S. from Puglia about 100 years ago and settled in New York City. I am currently pursuing Italian citizenship by descent, and I hope to have an Italian passport sometime next year. Eventually, I hope to live in Italy too. I know why southern Italians immigrated to the U.S. They were fleeing poverty. However, I don't know much about why northern Italians went to South America. I look forward to your future videos. Grazie!
P.S. On your topic of religion, I've long found it interesting that most Italians don't go to church, yet every town in Italy has at least one big festival every year in honor of a saint. In the U.S., for the most part, the only people who venerate the saints are those who go to Mass regularly. It is rare to find a public celebration for a saint since that would be considered "religious." So it seems odd (to me) that Italians love their patron saints so much, but they don't love the Mass, the sacraments, and participating in the life of the local parish -- something that was very important to the saint.
Ok both your comments are supper interesting. For the first one, I got you covered for both the Northern italian emigration to Brazili and, the week after, the differences between northern and southern Italy. For the religion, it is exactly as you said: in Italy religion now is just traditions, saints, festivals and the cultural part in general. In the US, due to the radical protestant background, there is nothing like that, but many people are still deeply religiious.
Simply because even the Northern Italians were poor.
@@HowtoItaly-2004 Now I'm going to have to check. There used to be Italian festivals here (in RI USA). It could be there are less now and that they are having the problem the local Greek festival is having. They are having trouble getting the next generation on board and the insurances and costs for police are now very high. Usually, as with the local Indian Tribe PowWow, if the hold it on any public lands they have to invite the public. This adds to the costs.
La storia della pasta Alfredo è completamente scentrata. La pasta in bianco o al burro e parmigiano certamente è sempre esistita e non è per nulla scomparsa dalla tradizione italiana (io sono cresciuto mangiandola qui in Lombardia). Semplicemente nessuno la chiama pasta Alfredo perché la pasta Alfredo così chiamata nasce come una sorta di rebrand della pasta al burro fatta da Alfredo di Alfredo della Scrofa e preparata per molti attori hollywoodiani che, non avendo mai mangiato una cosa simile ne hanno riportato la fama negli USA. Ma:
a) la pasta Alfredo oggi negli USA è soprattutto una pasta piena di panna, mai prevista nella ricetta originale
b) nessuno in Italia mangia la pasta Alfredo perché la pasta Alfredo non è altro che la normalissima pasta in bianco che ti davano da bambino e che ancora si mangia ovunque.
La questione Grandi sarebbe molto da discutere, diciamo che molto spesso l'impressione è che spari apposta ad alzo zero per creare engagement e discussione.
La pasta alfredo e la pasta burro e parmiggiano sono completamente diverse, ma ho capito il tuo punto. Su Grandi sono d’accordo
@@HowtoItaly-2004 grazie per la risposta, però, a parte assicurarsi di emulsionare molto la pasta con dell'acqua di cottura non mi è molto chiaro in che modo sarebbero diverse le fettuccine Alfredo da una normalissima pasta burro e parmigiano. :D
Esatto.l'ho scritto anche io. Sarebbe una burro e parmigiano mantecata.sempre mangiata. Alfredo sarebbe Alfredo alla scrofa,il ristorante che la fece a Mary Pickford che poi la rese famosa in USA.nel ristorante ci sono le posate d'oro regalate dagli attori.ma naturalmente in america la ricetta,semplicissima, è stata aggiustata x i loro gusti,stravolgendola.poi loro ci piazzano sopra pollo e quant'altro.
Perché nella pasta Alfredo viene fatto abbondante uso della panna..@@lucazeppegno8256
Meno male che su Grandi c'è qualcuno che non si fa abbindolare dai titoli e dai metodi accademici. Un conto è raccogliere i fatti e i dati, e su questo non ho motivo di aver dubbi sul suo rigore. Un altro è fornirne poi la propria lettura di storico, che può essere anche molto deformante, di proposito o involontariamente. Nel suo caso, a me è sembrato chiaro che voglia appunto fare un po' il "bastian contrario", il colto demolitore di dogmi nazional-popolari, appunto per creare interesse.
Io vivo in America da 16 anni e ne ho 45 quindi conosco molto bene entrambe le culture. Secondo me hai dimenticato due differenze molto importanti tra italiani e italoamericani che si definiscono italiani. In Italia la stragrande maggioranza delle persone ha un’idea generale della geografia e dei differenti dialetti e usanze che si trovano in giro per l’Italia e soprattutto hanno come principale interesse il calcio. Gli italoamericani anche se sono prima o seconda generazione quindi famiglie arrivate negli ultimi 50 anni. Sanno molto poco o nella maggior parte dei casi nulla dell’Italia e non hanno alcun interesse per il calcio.
D’accordissimo. Hai ragione
Comunque, io sono italiano e, anch'io, non ho nessun interesse per il calcio. 🙂
@@eolobrontolo9117 io parlo degli italiani in genere. Ovviamente ci sono eccezioni ma la stragrande maggioranza degli italiani segue il calcio
@@claudioravaglia8581 Certo, un'eccezione sono io. 😀
I found it interesting that the majority of Italian Americans have roots from the south of Italy. I’m Italian American with dual citizenship. My mother’s parents came from Toscana, near Lucca. My father’s parents came from Piemonte, west of Torino. All of them emigrated to the west coast, specifically San Francisco. I’m looking forward to seeing more content on this channel.
This is interesting because probably your families emigrated earlier than the standard italians during the Great Diaspora.
In California there were small communities of people from Piedmont and Liguria since the 1840s
They emigrated in the 1920s
Huge number of immigrants from Lucca in San Francisco.
@@HowtoItaly-2004Italians from the north had a relatively pleasant existence as farmers until agriculture prices fell in the late 1800s. These families moved to California and to Latin America where they maintained an agricultural life. The Mezzogiorno was a bitch for peasant farmers and their families migrated to cities instead.
Excellent observations, many of your observations apply to the Canadian-Italian experience. In Quebec, immigration was primarily during the inter-war period. In Ontario it was in the post war period. The Gen-X Quebec Italians typically do not speak Italian and understand more dialect than standard Italian. In Ontario, Gen-X went to "Saturday school" and now speak standard Italian.
thank you so much for you comment. I absolutely want to make a video about the Italian canadian experience before it is very interesting and I have distant relatives in Toronto Area. In my opinion italian canadians are a little bit more italian than italian americans becasue canadian culture is less imposing.
@@HowtoItaly-2004
That's a great point. Canadian culture was and still is more permissive of other cultures. It was not only considered "shameful" but dangerous to speak Italian in the US especially during WWII when Italy was our enemy. Canada also saw much more immigration after WWII than the US did. I also think Toronto and Montreal remained more "Italian" than the US because the immigrant communities there were even more insular with virtually everyone coming from Calabria (an insular part even within Italy).
Unfortunately I only know how to speak our dialect so when we travel back to Calabria, nobody believes that we are from the US. Everybody there assumes we are Italo Canadians! Lol
so interesting about Argentina and Brazil having immigrants from N Italy, not the South. I don’t know anything about that history
If you are interested in Brazilian Italians i will post the video next friday. I think it is a nice short documentary. Click the notification button and stay tuned!
the current pope, who is Argentinian, is the son of Italian emigrants from the north, respectively Piemonte and Liguria
I'm 5 generations removed from my last Italian ancestor, yet we've maintained the tomato sauce recipe 🤣 I also didn't realize until recently that the meal I make when I'm too lazy to cook is actually pasta mollicata
Very interesting. Do you know where your family is originally from?
@@HowtoItaly-2004 My grandfather's grandmother is my last Italian connection. Her father was from Calabria & her mother from Sicily. But they immigrated to Trieste where she was born & would marry my Austrian great×2 grandad. Why do you ask?
The North looks down on the South. BUT IT WAS the Calabrese and Sicilians 💪 that left and built New York, Toronto and California.
Absolutely! Stick around for the video about the differences between northern and southern Italy on September 27th, 2 pm New York Time.
Don't spread hate about things you don't know.
I remember going to the San Genaro festival in NY and seeing a T-shirt that said "America...We discovered it...We named it...We built it." Italian-American Pride.
@MrElliotc02 Ahh yes San Genaro Festival, another tradition from the South/Napolitani💪. No hate here, just facts. I love all of my 20 Italian regions.
@@Gigi_Latrottola Oh, reallY?
Really well done...bravo!
Thank you so much! Do not forget to subscribe for more content!
I love your work and your presentation also.
Thank you so much. I am a beginner to editing. I hope I will improve!
Me, have italian american coworker: Dude we are both Latin!!!
Italo american: no, we are not the same!!!
🤷🏻♂️
Me, in Italy: Buenos días!!
Italian shop owner: oh, Spanish, we are both Latin, we love you. Here have a free bottle of wine, and some cheese!!!
❤️❤️❤️❤️ Love Italy!!!
Hahhaha this is hilarious!
Yeah it's amazing how Italian immigrants in the US are considered "white" but the same Italian immigrants in south America are considered Latino by the US lol.
@@Pontxo81
Yes it is wild how the same Italian emmigrants would be either officially considered "white" or "latino" depending if they went to the US or South America.
He could've given an example of what Italians DO eat.in italy.
I will give many more. Do not miss the other videos.
Professor, my grandmother and her family came over from Fubine in the early 1900’s. My grandmother and her cousins all said the big difference as far as food was concerned was here there is a lot of good meat cheap. Especially compared to back home. My great grandfather said that on Sundays in Fubine all the brothers and sisters, the grandparents the spouses and the children would gay together in the big house for Sunday dinner and the would string trout on a clothesline across the dining room table and toss polenta over the fish so everyone got a taste of fish with the polenta. They came to New York and settled in Hell’s Kitchen eventually living over a speakeasy. There was a gentleman from Glastonbury Connecticut who would come down to New York every week or so to search out people from the Allesandro and Asti areas. He was looking for other Italians to come live in Glastonbury. Glastonbury is full of Northern Italians. Many from Fubine.
This is a great point!!! Italians who came to the US were absolutely NOT use to eat meat. They were poor and their diet was based on grains.
One of the causes the modification of the italian diet in America is the availability of meat. You are absolutely right!
I'm glad to have discovered your channel. It is becoming clearer to me, that what I learned, as a 2nd generation American, is so different from what I have witnessed as a visitor. It was also humorous to me when I recall a common phrase that was repeated; "what part of Italy do you come from?". You touched on the diaspora of the South vs. the North and I was warned of people from certain regions of Italy were not to be trusted.
After visiting the country, I always come away with recurring thoughts of how bad it must have been to want to leave such a beautiful country.
This is such a beautiful
Comment! I hope you will find more interesting stuff!
So true! My family is Northern (Piemonte/Lombardia) and purist. I don't identify with most Italian-American food and customs. Thank you for clarifying this.
Thank you for following me! Stick around!
From Lombardy: I have been watching some Italian American videos, which confirm the need for "How to Italy". Bravo Professore! In particular, you do well to stress that life for most people in Italy today is very far from being "laid back". Magari! ;-)
Especially in Lombardia you are not laid back!
@@HowtoItaly-2004 The region of Lombardy has 10.06 million people, 35 thousand less than Sweden (18th largest country in Europe) and 1 million more than Hungary (19th largest), so it is No. 18.5. ;-) Italy as a whole is around 60 million. In terms of GDP, it comes after Belgium (12) and before Austria (13). Italy as a whole is No. 4, after Germany, UK and France. If Lombardy were a US state, it would rank 9.5., after North Carolina (9) and before Michigan (10) for its population, and 14.5 , after Michigan (149 and before Colorado (15) for its GDP. In terms of size, if Lombardy were a US state, it would be be 46.5, after New Hampshire (46) and before New Jersey (47). Italy as a whole would be 5.5 after New Mexico (5) and before Arizona (6).
@@HowtoItaly-2004 PS. If Lombardy were a US state, it would rank 9.5., after North Carolina (9) and before Michigan (10) for its population, and 14.5 , after Michigan (149 and before Colorado (15) for its GDP.
Thank you for this video. Most of my family arrived in the USA before 1905. Almost all identified as farmers or laborers on their documents. I learned that the biggest adjustment was the low cost and abundance of meat. They combined their home made pastas and breads with whatever sauces they could make, along with a lot of meat. I learned to cook from my grandmothers and they would say “we would only eat this” meaning the sauce or vegetable. Also there were the strong culinary traditions of single-plate meals from the English, Irish and Germans that played a role in the move from multiple courses to a single starch-meat-veg serving. I look forward to more of your videos. Pete
Multi-course meals entered western Europe from Russia and specifically into France. It's not a distinctly western European tradition.
Also the workweek meant no huge pranzo until the weekend.
You made some great points!! This is an amazing comment. Please subscribe to my channel because I want this kind of audience.
Wow! I greatly enjoyed your video. Thanks! I did not hear any errors in English grammar, by the way. I have several thoughts that I'd like to share with you.
1) My grandparents immigrated from Sicily in 1905 and settled in New York City. So, growing up, I was surrounded by many relatives that were from Italy, and the cultural features were very strong, especially family, religion, and food. Now, my grand nieces and grand nephews all have Italian names, but they look like they are from Norway. Blond hair, blue eyes, big strong athletic bodies. That's because, of course, in America, most people have multiple ethnicities. I think the idea of an Italian American is now an anachronism. It won't even exist in another generation.
2) My great grandparents were named Michele and Theresa. Today, I have are nine relatives in my immediate family named Michele (or Michelle, or Michael) and 8 named Theresa. The durability of the naming tradition is interesting and charming, in my opinion.
3) On religion, many Italian Americans have abandoned Catholicism after the awful betrayal of the child sex scandals. I do not believe that the American Catholic Church has done any significant Penance for that.
4) We ate lots of authentic Italian food in our family growing up, even though my mother is French/English by ancient heritage. It was maintained by our many relatives from Italy. Today, people cook Italian food as a hobby, not as an every day practice.
5) You must have a huge family home to be able to accommodate many generations. American homes are generally large, but I still can not see them filled by so many as you described.
Cheers!
You made many great points!! Yes, there is the chance that, generation by generation, the Italian american culture will disappear almost completely, as it has happened with the German and Irish ones.
All of my family come from Piedmonte we are Piedmontese .
Are you Italian or Italian american?
@@HowtoItaly-2004 because in this country we are all wash ashores I will always be Piedmontese as all my family is Piedmontese
Italians living in Italy frequently take a dim view of how their American counterparts have interpreted and in many ways re-invented the cuisine from the homeland. Their criticisms are often harsh and inflexible, citing that anything less than a religious adherence to the original recipes constitutes a culinary heresy. New World favorites such as Spaghetti and Meatballs and Chicken Parmigiana are virtually unheard of, let alone prepared in home kitchens there. How quick they forget that Italian cuisine on the mother peninsula (and in Sicily and Sardinia, as well) is hardly a uniform expression of the culture, with each region having its own traditions and specialties - - many of which are foreign to Italians in other regions within the same country. I prefer to drop the arbitrary construct of political borders and instead consider the "Italian Diaspora" as a varied and dynamic entity within itself. Perhaps it is more accurate to consider Italian-American as simply another region within the culinary universe that is, ultimately, Italian! After all, many of the defining elements of Italian-American cooking have more in common with some areas in southern Italy (the source of many of the immigrants who found their way to our shores) than, say, Naples or Calabria share with Milan or Venice. That said, what is endemic to all Italian regional cuisines is a reliance upon fresh ingredients, intense flavors, and a preparation that is passionate and loving. It has finesse without pretense. It is genuine, it is honest, it keeps you wanting more - - it is Italian regardless of which side of the Atlantic it was prepared on. One may say that Italian America is an enclave of Italian tradition and heritage since lost on the European continent.
Beautiful comment. I agree with you.
@@HowtoItaly-2004, Grazie mille! :-)
@@HowtoItaly-2004 I'd like to suggest, also, that as social media and ease of international travel continues to evolve, the two cultures on either side of the Atlantic are becoming less divergent and "merging" closer once again; this is especially apparent regarding culinary practices, but evident in other aspects of daily life as well.
Found your channel through NYTN's channel. Promises to have some great content on here! Subscribed and liked. Greetings from a Dutchman living and working in Marsala (TP) on the western point of Sicily! I wonder if people in Nova York eat arancini...
Oh my god!! I spent all my summers between Marsala, Trapani and Favignana, it is the place of my hearth!!!!
@@HowtoItaly-2004 Fellow kitesurfer by any chance? ;-)
@@YtheMain no. Not at all
Form wilipedia Alberto Grandi (born July 29th 1967)[1] is an Italian Marxist[2][3][4] academic
Typical for a leftist is to denigrate Italy,
it's not a case if A.G. is a communist.
Leftist ideology is against the catholic religion and for them patriotism is equal fascism.
They'd like very much if the E.U. could dominate us completely and we will lose every little bit of sovranity.
So everything is about politics not traditions or whatever.
You don't know the origin of Alfredo's pasta.
I think certain things that you say are valid, but it is much more complicated than that
Unfortunately, too many Italian-Americans have a very stereotypical view of Italy - its culture and its History. As for their views on food (and you can blame a lot of actual Italians for that) most of it is heavily pasta / Pizza oriented and therefore not really developped beyond these two staples of Italian cuisine.
Most of them, yes.
Recently discovered your channel. Hoping to see those videos about the south american diaspora.
Greetings from Argentina.
Thank you so much for subscribing. Next week I will post italian emigration to brazil. Argentina is on top of my list
Another difference is that as Italian Anericans becane richer, they started using a lot of meat in their pasta dishes which isn't what Italian pasta dishes, historically the food of the poor people, look like.
@@emilaslan8452 you are absolutely right
Yesterday I watched the episode of Young Sheldon (S2, ep. 16), where Sheldon is accused of being a communist.
Granny made me die laughing with all those American flags! 😂😂😂
Abhahah great episode
Ok so I am italian but I have some french/german DNA due probably to barbarian invasion one thoisand years ago,so I am french or german? I think that if you was born in Usa you are definitely american!
I don’t understand what you mean
@@HowtoItaly-2004 I mean you can go back in time and trace it back to Romulus and Remus but what counts is where you were born. Belmondo the famous actor had italian origin but he was born in France and he is a french actor not italian. So Madonna or Lady Gaga are american not italian
Beautiful location!
Thanks Manu!
Ciao, Prof. Ci dispiace che se ne è andato😭😭 comunque la vorremmo salutare e ringraziare di tutto quello che ha fatto.
Dalla 1C ( ora 2 )
Carissimo federico dispiace immensamente anche a me. Verrò presto a trovarvi!
@@HowtoItaly-2004salve prof! Sono Bianca… già sentiamo la sua mancanza…. La ringrazio in particolare per le lezioni di vita che ci ha dato, più che quelle di storia e geografia. Grazie mille
And that's why Italians are stereotyped with the phenotype of South Italians most of the times..
what do you mean?
@@HowtoItaly-2004Dirty, hairy, greasy, short, dark-haired with big noses like me, that’s what he means.
Thank you for you very interesting discourse on your culture. I am not Italian but I am learning the Italian language and want to know about your culture. In your assessment of Italians not being very patriotic I wonder if their focus is more on the amazing celebrations through the year, in cities and villages in honour of saints or even historic events. USA has had a civil war but not an invasion. This was the plight of Europe during WWll . Many died, infrastructure and buildings destroyed and immense suffering. How long did it take for Italy to recover while bearing the scars of trauma. Could those memories have had an effect on war in general among the population and thereby not wanting this to happen again? Maybe you could give some feedback on these thoughts?
Thank you so much for your interesting comment! For sure the wounds of WW2 played and still play a huge role in Italians' inferiority complex toward other nations and sens of guilt.
Regards to food, it's also hilarious that Roman's will laugh at Italian American food when Americans were the ones that invented Carbonara 😂😢😮
Yes, you are absolutely right
Grandee prof!!
Grandissimo!!!!!!!! Quanto mi mancate ragazzi!!!!!!!!!!
Also I wonder if there are any remnants of the Sicilian or Italian dialects in the new world. I know for a fact there are many remnants of Dutch there, like "stoop" (pavement/sidewalk). Keep up the good work.
There is a little bit of Sicilian. But very few
I totally agree with your description of Italian-American cultures. However, you should go a little deeper on why Italians, maybe it's personal, feel this hate-love relation with Italy. Thanks .for your enlightening story
@@egidiotonitto4714 I will! Thank you so much!
Ahahah completely agree!! Good
thank you mr Cicero
It is interesting that you state Italian's have little patriotic investment. Is that even at World Cup football matches? I'll soon be making the move to reside in Italy (some where I can find a friendly comune office and magistrate) while I apply for jure sanguinis, since it is proving impossible to apply while in the States, and looking forward to discovering the differences in culture, identity and learning the language. Your views in future videos will be welcome to helping me prepare, thank you.
Question, if you could help me decide what province to establish my residency while I apply for my citizenship, and even though as you correctly suggested my family originated from Southern Italy (Abruzzo), do you think an Italian-American will fare better in the South or in the North in terms of cultural acclimation?
Disclaimer, my father didn't contribute to instilling in me anything about what it means to be Italian (other than admiration for good food and Italian Neorealism) and was of the generation that struggled to leave his heritage behind for obvious negative reasons endured in that era (when in America do as the Anglo-Saxon's do).
This is such an interesting comment! When Italians watch the world cup which, by the way, we have missed twice, we are very patriottic. But it lasts two weeks. It is not easy to give you an advice about the province because it depends on so many factors, especcially the way you are and your age. If you are retired, go to the south! If you need a job, go north!
@@HowtoItaly-2004 Mmmmm. I'll be retired with a need for a side hustle, so maybe it's just over the border in the north. Thanks for the response!
Shocking to see Italians are not patriotic after hearing the lyrics to the Italian National Anthem.
You are absolutely right.
Italo-Americans consider themselves as 'Italian' but as an Italian I could say sometimes we are closer to Germans than to Italo-Americans. They think to speak Italian but most of the time you could not understand what they say; they think to cook as Italians but often their 'traditional' recipes are deepy different with real Italian recipes. They have an idea of Italy that is mainly the idea of Italy that a southerner migrant could have had one hundred years ago or more. Of course there are many exceptions as for everything but maybe the place in which you grow is much more important than 'origins'. The peculiar focus on 'origins' is typical of US society but in Europe is not always so relevant. In the last 3 thousand years, Italy has been invaded by quite evrybody, so we have roots in half world populations (not to say of immigration). In Northern Tuscany there is the biggest Chinese community of Europe (around 60000 registered in Florence and Prato provinces alone, the first chinese migrants arrived durung the First World War) and specially young Italo-Chinese are more Tuscans than many Tuscans and sure more Italians than many Italo-Americans.
I totally agree with you. You made some great points!
@@HowtoItaly-2004 Except the usual idiotic and unsupported theory that we were invaded by "half the world".
🤦♂🤦♂ "Half world" population.. "Invaded by quite everybody" 🤦♂🤦♂ Italy was not invaded by half the world unless you are not talking with an hyperbole, most of the people that invaded Italy invaded even other parts of Europe, such as Neolitich farmers, Gauls and Germanic folks later. Greeks in South Italy were almost genetically the same of local population even before Magna Grecia . Hystorical invasions such Spaniards or French are not "Half the world" either anyway and military invasions hardly leave a trace. It takes hundred years and mass movements like neolithic ones to change a population or else all Europe, North Africa and Near East would be all "Roman and "Germanic". Italians' dna is still pretty similar to Bronze age time, so you can quit repeating absurdities we often read in TH-cam. Also i'm from Tuscany and they are not more Tuscan than many Tuscans even if culturally they are surely more Italian than Italian Americans.
🤦♂🤦♂ "Half world" 🤦♂🤦♂ Italy was not invaded by half the world unless you are not talking with an hyperbole, most of the people that invaded Italy invaded even other parts of Europe, such as Neolitich farmers, Gauls and Germanic folks later. Greeks in South Italy were almost genetically the same of local population even before Magna Grecia . Hystorical invasions such Spaniards or French are not "Half the world" either anyway and military invasions hardly leave a trace. It takes hundred years and mass movements like neolithic ones to change a population or else all Europe, North Africa and Near East would be all "Roman and "Germanic". Italians are still pretty similar to Bronze age time by latest stuodies, so you can quit repeating absurdities we often read in the comments regarding Italians. Also i'm from Tuscany and those folk in Prato are not more Tuscan than many Tuscans even if culturally they are surely more Italian than Italian Americans.
@@alessandrom7181 Exactly, so to talk of 'origins' is meaningless in the long run.
They are "American of Italian descent".
Yes, I like the definition!
I'm 38 and still with my folks in Florida. Do i get made fun of all the time? Yes, but my parents will be gone soon... Rather just do what is good for me
I really understand you man
I DO know that you're only Mexican if your a citizen of Mexico
What do you mean?
Bravissimo, grazie!
(Unica pecca: con quella pronuncia inglese "maccheronica", lo stereotipo italiano rimane sano e salvo 😂)
Ahhahahha sicuramente!
Naples is part of italy genius
You are not very smart
About patriotism, dott. Coniglio, I've noticed that in Brazilian communities of Italian origin, specially the isolated ones, there's a strong sense of Venetian pride. This is something I've also noted in more or less the same sense in Veneto itself. The younger oriundi generations, however, tend to classify their cultural heritage as Italian. I come from a Cimbrian family that immigrated before the Great War, so all those Venetian cultural celebrations and pride that the community did and still do never quite reasonated with us.
Please please please, subscribe and hit the notification button because next friday there will be a specific video about the Venetian Emigration to Brazil!! Do not miss it.
Cimbrian? What is cimbrian? An ancient population of Veneto?
@@paologalliani4172 Erano cimbri dell'altopiano di Asiago (Sette Comuni).
You mentioned about being the least patriotic - what about the World Cup?!?!? Do Italians care how their national team does?!?!?
I was in Italy when it won the World Cup in 1982. Flags everywhere. People jumped into the canals in Venice. The most patriotic Italy had ever been.
That is football. In football we are very patriottic.
The sound track is unnecessary.
Do you think so? I do not know what to do
Hm 🤔. 14th most popular Italian name in US is "Lombardo" which means "from Lombardy"? 😜
It actually mean LONGBARD, descendant of a germanic tribe that invaded the Italian peninsula after the fall of the western roman empire. The Milan area became their kingdom and it was called “Lombardy” as today.
The last name, though, is more common in southern Italy and indicates people of the south with germanic routes.
I also have LOMBARDO distant relatives in Toronto.
@@HowtoItaly-2004 Dude, I know who the Langobards were 🤗. Called „Long beards“, for Wotan‘s wife advised their women well (or so) 😉.
@@HowtoItaly-2004 you have to admit though that it’s quite funny. I am by no means disputing that „Lombardo“ or „Lombardi“ are popular names in Southern Italy 🙂.
I was always told we were from Calabria. 😊
Me too! Part of my family and my last name, which litterally means “rabbit”
@@HowtoItaly-2004 interestingly my father was a 100% calabrese. His parents both were born from immigrants from Calabria but met in the US. There was a pocket in Chicago with lots of Italian immigrants. They lived in little deeper pockets by the region. I recently took a trip to Italy and visited the Cosenza region where they are from and cried. I was over whelmed with emotions. it was such an amazing experience going to Calabria and I could look around and I felt like I was home like I had been there before, but I hadn’t.
@@happytosti7715 this is such an amazing story
I was told that when growing up. It was after my first trip to Italy that I realized that is like saying, 'I'm from New England'. That was the first step of my father sharing some of our origins that we never spoke of.
Sorry your recording volume made it difficult to watch your video.
Maybe next time
You are absolutely right. I am sorry. That was the first video. I have improved a lot since.
Italian Americans are the South of Italy. And the South of Italy has always been the poorest part of Italy.
Not always. Let’s say, in the last 400 years probably.
@@HowtoItaly-2004 True, I was reading that the Kingdom of Naples was quite self sufficient until about the 1800s even.
@@jaytrees7304 not true...Spain looted the South not the Piemontese who unified taly
The difference between Italians and Italian-Americans are the difference between historical Mafia and american Cosa Nostra!
What do you mean?
What you wrote doesn't make any sense!!!
Chiamare gli USA "America" è un gravissimo errore, soprattutto per un professore.
Dipende dal contesto. Soprattutto se ti rivolgi principalmente agli statunitensi, loro si chiamano “american”.
Italian American men more masculine
Where are you from?
@@HowtoItaly-2004 Brooklyn ny
Cool you’re deleting comments. Bye.
I did not delete a single comment. Not even one.
My first impression: Buy a microphone! :-)
I did!!!!!! Next videos will be better, I promise!
@@HowtoItaly-2004 👍
There is a large community of Tuscans in Oregon..yet nobody has ever heard of them or made a big deal as for the ones in the Eastern Coast who are mostly South Italians. Culturally and phenotypically Tuscans blended in a lot more with Aglosaxons.
Thank you so much for this comment! I am aware. This people came much before than the great Diaspora.
Back when Italy still had a colony in Libya, the Northern Italians used to say, "Africa starts in Naples," the idea being that Southern Italians were pretty much indistinguishable from Libyan fellaheen.
We made a video about this last year, my dear friend Danielle Romero of NYTN
A very idiotic comment.
Most of the americans with Italian last names call themselves "italians" despite the fact that they were not born and raised in Italy and of course... they only speak english.
Because I think the big misunderstanding is the way they intend: “i am italian”. They mean: “I have italian roots”
Why is this your concern?
@@HowtoItaly-2004correct but they also mean any culture differences I have from other Americans it’s because of my Italian heritage whether that be good or religion
@@HowtoItaly-2004 Exactly! America is a country founded & built by immigrants. EVERYONE here (except Native Americans) has their roots somewhere else. So in America "Where ya from?" means "Where is your family from?" And the answer is: We're Italian. We're Irish, We're German, etc. This is how all Americans behave, not just Italian Americans, because back in the day, America was "the melting pot."
In the 1880 to 1920 it was not a ``Italian Diaspora.`` It was a Duo-Sicilian Diaspora, most emigrants in North America wear from the ex kingdom of the Two Sicilies. Italian as a political entity did not existed. Ignorante! There was never a Southern Italian state. Professore del cavolo.
I regret to inform you that you are wrong. When the Diaspora started, in 1880, Italy had been a unified country for 19 years. The kingdom of the two sicilies was alredy dead.
Most importantly, the Italian diaspora is called “italian” because people emigrated also from northern Italy to south America.
Omg your english 😢
I do my best.
@@HowtoItaly-2004 I apologize but doesn’t sounds like that
@@ninac1524so rude his English is great he just has an accent which is expected from a non native speaker. Learning a language is hard a critiques can be helpful but rudeness is unwarranted
@@yusefnegaoboring .
@@ninac1524 great response
They are not, if they eat mac & cheese. Or Chicago pizza (it's not a pizza, but they still call it that).
I got your point.
Are Italians Latino?
@@maxpodrecca2946 not in the sense Americans intend Latinos. We are latinos in the sense that we derive from the latin civilitazion and we speak a romance language.
The word Latino is a fraud the French pulled on the Mexicans to make them easier to subjugate.
@@HowtoItaly-2004great answer
Campania is not Italy....We are Bourbons....Sons of Kingdom of Naples ! We are OTHERS !
I strongly disagree