Joseph Rocchietti was an Italian-American novelist. A native of

Casale Monferrato Casale Monferrato () is a town in the Piedmont region of Italy, in the province of Alessandria. It is situated about east of Turin on the right bank of the Po, where the river runs at the foot of the Montferrat hills. Beyond the river lies the v ...

in Piedmont, he emigrated to the United States in 1831. He was active as a writer there during the years 1835–1875 and is best known for '' Lorenzo and Oonalaska'' (1835), which is the earliest known novel by an Italian-American. This epistolary novel, a love story written in English, is set partly in Europe and partly in Virginia. He also published a number of long essays including one against the Massachusetts ‘ nativist’ movement which was reviewed by Edgar Allan Poe in Poe's '' Broadway Journal''. First Edition Title Page of Lorenzo and Oonalaska

First Edition Title Page of Lorenzo and Oonalaska

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* * People from Casale Monferrato American writers of Italian descent American male novelists Italian emigrants to the United States 19th-century American novelists 19th-century American male writers Year of birth missing Year of death missing {{US-novelist-1800s-stub