Italians have had a presence in the

New Orleans New Orleans ( , ,New Orleans
Merriam-Webster. ; french: La Nouvelle-Orléans , es, Nuev ...

area since the explorations of the Europeans. Many

Sicilians Sicilians or the Sicilian people are a Romance speaking people who are indigenous to the island of Sicily, the largest island in the Mediterranean Sea, as well as the largest and most populous of the autonomous regions of Italy. Origin and i ...

immigrated to New Orleans in the 19th century, traveling on the

Palermo Palermo ( , ; scn, Palermu , locally also or ) is a city in southern Italy, the capital (political), capital of both the autonomous area, autonomous region of Sicily and the Metropolitan City of Palermo, the city's surrounding metropolitan ...

-New Orleans route by ship.Maselli and Candeloro, p
7
Maggi, Laura.

" ''

The Times-Picayune ''The Times-Picayune/The New Orleans Advocate'' is an American newspaper published in New Orleans, Louisiana, since January 25, 1837. The current publication is the result of the 2019 acquisition of ''The Times-Picayune'' (itself a result of th ...

''. January 29, 2012. Retrieved on August 28, 2014. The number of Italians who immigrated in the late 19th century greatly exceeded those who had come before the

American Civil War The American Civil War (April 12, 1861 – May 26, 1865; also known by other names) was a civil war in the United States. It was fought between the Union ("the North") and the Confederacy ("the South"), the latter formed by states th ...

.Huber, Leonard Victor. ''New Orleans: A Pictorial History''.

Pelican Publishing Pelican Publishing Company is a book publisher based in Gretna, a suburb of New Orleans. Formed in 1926, Pelican is the largest independent trade book publisher located in the U.S. South. Pelican publishes approximately 60 titles per year and ...

, 1971. , 9781455609314. p
56
Only

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the List of United States cities by population, most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the L ...

has a higher population of

Sicilian-American Sicilian Americans (Sicilian language, Sicilian: ''Sìculu-miricani; Italian language, Italian: Siculoamericani'') are Americans of Italian people, Italian Sicilians, Sicilian birth or ancestry. They are a large ethnic group in the United States. ...

s and Sicilian immigrants than New Orleans.

History

Economics in Louisiana and Sicily combined to bring about what became known as the Great Migration of thousands of Sicilians. The end of the Civil War allowed the freed men the choice to stay or to go, many chose to leave for higher paying jobs, which in turn led to a perceived scarcity of labor resources for the planters. Northern Italy enjoyed the fruits of modern industrialization, while southern Italy and Sicily suffered destitute conditions under the system of absentee landowners. The peasant was still essentially the serf in the system. Emigration not only offered peasants a chance to move beyond subsistence living, it also offered them a chance to pursue their own dreams of proprietorship as farmers or other business owners. On March 17, 1866, the Louisiana Bureau of Immigration was formed and planters began to look to Sicily as a possible solution to their labor needs. Steamship companies advertisements were very effective in recruiting potential workers. . Three steamships per month were running between New Orleans and Sicily by September 1881 at a cost of only forty dollars per person. In 1890 the ethnic Irish chief of police,

David Hennessy David C. Hennessy (1858 – October 16, 1890) was a police chief of New Orleans, Louisiana. As a young detective, he made headlines in 1881 when he captured a notorious Italian criminal, Giuseppe Esposito. In 1888, he was promoted to superintend ...

was assassinated.1890: New Orleans police chief is assassinated
" ''

''. September 24, 2011. Retrieved on August 28, 2014. Suspicion fell on Italians, whose growing numbers in the city made other whites nervous.ANTI-ITALIAN MOOD LED TO 1891 LYNCHINGS

Archive
. ''

''. March 14, 1991. p. B1. Retrieved on August 28, 2014. The

March 14, 1891 New Orleans lynchings The March 14, 1891, New Orleans lynchings were the Lynching in the United States, murders of 11 Italian Americans and immigrants in New Orleans, Louisiana, by a mob for their alleged role in the murder of New Orleans Police Department, police ch ...

were the largest ever mass lynchings in Louisiana history. The use of the term "

mafia "Mafia" is an informal term that is used to describe criminal organizations that bear a strong similarity to the original “Mafia”, the Sicilian Mafia and Italian Mafia. The central activity of such an organization would be the arbitration of d ...

" by local media in relation to the murder is the first-known usage of the word in print.

Geography

"Little Palermo" was established by recent immigrants in the lower

French Quarter The French Quarter, also known as the , is the oldest neighborhood in the city of New Orleans. After New Orleans (french: La Nouvelle-Orléans) was founded in 1718 by Jean-Baptiste Le Moyne de Bienville, the city developed around the ("Old Squ ...

. So many Italians settled here that some suggested the area should be renamed as "The Sicilian Quarter" in the early 20th century. As time passed and they became established, many

Italian-Americans Italian Americans ( it, italoamericani or ''italo-americani'', ) are Americans who have full or partial Italian ancestry. The largest concentrations of Italian Americans are in the urban Northeast and industrial Midwestern metropolitan areas, w ...

moved out of New Orleans and to the suburbs.

Economy

Historically many corner stores in New Orleans were owned by Italians. Progresso Foods originated as a New Orleans Italian-American business. The business established by the Vaccaro brothers later became Standard Fruit. After they first arrived, Italian immigrants generally took low-wage laboring jobs, which they could accomplish without being able to speak English. They worked on docks, in macaroni factories, and in nearby sugar plantations. Some went to the

French Market The French Market (french: Marché français) is a market and series of commercial buildings spanning six blocks in the French Quarter of New Orleans, Louisiana. Founded as a Native American trading post predating European colonization, the market ...

to sell fruit. Italian workers became a significant presence in the French Market.

Organizations

In 1843 the ''Società Italiana di Mutua Beneficenza'' was established. The San Bartolomeo Society, established by immigrants from

Ustica Ustica (; scn, Ùstica) is a small Italian island in the Tyrrhenian Sea. It is about across and is situated north of Capo Gallo, Sicily. Roughly 1,300 people live in the ''comune'' (municipality) of the same name. There is a regular fer ...

, was established in 1879. As of 2004 it is the oldest Italian-American society in New Orleans. Joseph Maselli, an ethnic Italian from New Orleans, founded the first pan-U.S. Italian-American federation of organizations. The American Italian Cultural Center honors and celebrates the area's Italian-American heritage and culture. The AICC houses the American Italian Museum, with exhibits about the history and contributions of Italian-Americans to the region. The Piazza d'Italia is a local monument dedicated to the

Italian-American Italian Americans ( it, italoamericani or ''italo-americani'', ) are Americans who have full or partial Italian ancestry. The largest concentrations of Italian Americans are in the urban Northeast and industrial Midwestern metropolitan areas, w ...

community of New Orleans.

Recreation

On St. Joseph's Day, ethnic Sicilians in the New Orleans area establish altars. On that day marches organized by the Italian-American Marching Club occur. The club, which welcomes anyone of Italian origins, started in 1971 and as of 2004 has more than 1,500 members. Italian Americans originally established the

Krewe A krewe (pronounced "crew") is a social organization that puts on a parade or ball for the Carnival season. The term is best known for its association with Mardi Gras celebrations in New Orleans, but is also used in other Carnival celebrations ar ...

of Virgilians because they were unable to join other Krewes in the Mardi Gras. In 1936 the krewes crowned their first queen, Marguerite Piazza, who worked in the New Orleans Metropolitan Opera.

Cuisine

Italians in New Orleans brought with them many dishes from

Sicilian cuisine Sicilian cuisine is the style of cooking on the island of Sicily. It shows traces of all cultures that have existed on the island of Sicily over the last two millennia. Although its cuisine has much in common with Italian cuisine, Sicilian food a ...

and broader

Italian cuisine Italian cuisine (, ) is a Mediterranean cuisine#CITEREFDavid1988, David 1988, Introduction, pp.101–103 consisting of the ingredients, recipes and List of cooking techniques, cooking techniques developed across the Italian Peninsula and late ...

s, which influenced the

Cuisine of New Orleans The cuisine of New Orleans encompasses common dishes and foods in New Orleans, Louisiana. It is perhaps the most distinctively recognized regional cuisine in the United States. Some of the dishes originated in New Orleans, while others are comm ...

. Many food businesses and restaurants were started by Italians in New Orleans.

Progresso bread_crumbs.html" ;"title="brand bread crumbs">brand bread crumbs. --> Progresso, a brand of General Mills, is an American food company that produces canned soups, canned beans, broths, Chili con carne, chili, and other food products. History ...

, now a large Italian food brand, was started by Sicilian immigrants to New Orleans. Angelo Brocato's an Italian

Ice Cream Ice cream is a sweetened frozen food typically eaten as a snack or dessert. It may be made from milk or cream and is flavoured with a sweetener, either sugar or an alternative, and a spice, such as cocoa or vanilla, or with fruit such as str ...

parlor and bakery, established in 1905 by a Sicilian immigrant, is still in existence today.

Central Grocery Central Grocery Co. is a small, old-fashioned Italian-American grocery store with a sandwich counter, located at 923 Decatur Street in the French Quarter of New Orleans, Louisiana. It was founded in 1906 by Salvatore Lupo, a Sicilian immigrant. ...

, also founded by a Sicilian immigrant and still in business, originated the

muffaletta The muffuletta or muffaletta is both a type of round Sicilian sesame bread and a popular sandwich that originated among Italian immigrants in New Orleans, Louisiana, using the same bread. History The muffuletta bread has origins in Sicily. ...

sandwich, served on the traditional Sicilian muffaletta bread. MidCityBrocatosOpen

Notable people

Sam Butera Sam Butera (August 17, 1927 – June 3, 2009) was an American tenor saxophonist and singer-songwriter best noted for his collaborations with Louis Prima and Keely Smith. Butera is frequently regarded as a crossover artist who performed with equal ...

Dukes of Dixieland The Dukes of Dixieland was an American, New Orleans "Dixieland"-style revival band, originally formed in 1948 by brothers Frank Assunto, trumpet; Fred Assunto, trombone; and their father Papa Jac Assunto, trombone and banjo. Their first records ...

(Frank Assunto, Freddie Assunto, Papa Assunto) *

Nick LaRocca Dominic James "Nick" LaRocca (April 11, 1889 – February 22, 1961), was an American early jazz cornetist and trumpeter and the leader of the Original Dixieland Jass Band. He is the composer of one of the most recorded jazz classics of all-time ...

Carlos Marcello Carlos Joseph Marcello (; born Calogero Minacore ; February 6, 1910 – March 3, 1993) was an Italian-American crime boss of the New Orleans crime family from 1947 until the late 1980s. Aside from his role in the American Mafia, he is also n ...

Louis Prima Louis Leo Prima (December 7, 1910 – August 24, 1978) was an American singer, songwriter, bandleader, and trumpeter. While rooted in New Orleans jazz, swing music, and jump blues, Prima touched on various genres throughout his career: he forme ...

* Vaccaro brothers (including Joseph Vaccaro), who established Standard Fruit *

Robert Maestri Robert Sidney Maestri (December 11, 1899 – May 6, 1974) was mayor of New Orleans from 1936 to 1946 and a key ally of Huey P. Long Jr. and Earl Kemp Long. Early life Robert Maestri was born in New Orleans on December 11, 1899, the son of, Fr ...

Cosimo Matassa Cosimo Vincent Matassa (April 13, 1926 – September 11, 2014) was an American recording engineer and studio owner, responsible for many R&B and early rock and roll recordings. Life and career Matassa was born in New Orleans in 1926.Komorowsk ...

* Victor H. Schiro *

Candy Candido Jonathan Joseph “Candy” Candido (December 25, 1913 – May 19, 1999) was an American radio performer and voice actor. He was best remembered for his famous line "I'm feeling mighty low". Early and personal life Born on Christmas Day in ...

References

* Maselli, Joseph and Dominic Candeloro. ''Italians in New Orleans'' (Images of America).

Arcadia Publishing Arcadia Publishing is an American publisher of neighborhood, local, and regional history of the United States in pictorial form.(analysis of the successful ''Images of America'' series). Arcadia Publishing also runs the History Press, which publi ...

, 2004. , 9780738516929.

Notes

External links

American Italian Museum
(AICC)
American Italian Cultural Center
{{Ethnicity in Louisiana Ethnic groups in New Orleans History of New Orleans Italian-American culture in Louisiana Italian-American history