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In 1635, Pietro Cesare Alberti from Venice was the first Italian to settle in America. He settled in New York City.
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In this year, the first group of Italians arrived in America. They were 200 people and they emigrated to freely practice their religion.
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During this timespan, small groups of Italians steadily arrived to the shores of the United States. However, they were still a very small number compared to future immigrations happening in the late 19th/early 20th century.
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During this timespan, Italian immigration to the United States starts to increase in size bringing 6,400 people to the shores of America.
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In 1861, Italy was unified and created a new constitution that drastically favored economically the North of the country, This led and forced people from the South to emigrate to other nations. Most of Italians emigrated to the United States, Brazil and Argentina (including my great-grandfather!)
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During this time, almost four millions Italians arrived to the United States. Almost all of them went through Ellis Island, which is located just outside New York City. The majority of ships sailed away from the ports of Genova, Naples and Palermo. Most of the people left during the summer months because of the warmer weather to face the 12 days at sea.
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During World War 1, Italian emigration to the United States drastically decreased because a large number of Italians were called on duty by the Italian army.
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After the end of World War 2, the large stream of Italian immigration towards the United States restarts.
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During these three years, Italian immigration decreases because of reforms in the US Immigration laws. However, after three years, those policies changed and re-allowed people to emigrate from Italy to the United States.
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After the Immigration laws became less strict in 1924, the Italian immigration to the United States massively continues.
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The United States enacted stricter immigration laws limiting the number of immigrants admitted in the US.
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After witnessing an enormous emigration during the previous decades, the Italian Government succesfully tried to limit emigration by increasing taxes on ships (leading to higher ticket prices) and limiting the amount of goods allowed to be exported. The picture shows the Italian King at that time, Vittorio Emanuele III.
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During World War 2, the Italian emigration to the United States stops even more because of italians deployed for war in Europe in addition to the fact that they were considered political enemies by the Allies (which included the United States.)
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After the end of World War 2, a third massive wave of immigration of Italian to the United States begins. During this time, a large number of Italians emigrated to avoid the terrible economic conditions that Italy was left with after losing the war.
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After 1971, Italian immigration starts to gradually decrease mainly because of the fact that the current US immigration laws were implemented at this time limiting the amount of people allowed to immigrate to the US in addition of an improvement of life conditions in Italy, especially in the South, making the emigration not as favorable as it was in the previous years.
