Celebrating Italian American Heritage Month

 

Italian-American Heritage Month (October) was first celebrated in 1989 when it was proclaimed by the federal government to honor the achievements and contributions of Italian immigrants and their descendants living in the U.S.

To escape poverty and violence in Southern Italy and Sicily, over 5.4 million Italians immigrated to the U.S. between 1820 and 1992. Today there are over 26 million Americans of Italian descent in the United States. The country was named after an Italian, the explorer and geographer Amerigo Vespucci.

Some well-known Italian-Americans who changed history include: Mother Cabrini, a missionary and patron saint of immigrants who established dozens of orphanages, hospitals and schools around the world; Joe DiMaggio, record-setting NY Yankee; Geraldine Ferraro, the first woman and Italian-American to earn a vice-presidential nomination; Pietro and Maria Botto, who opened their home to laborers in the early 1900’s, and many others. Famous Italian-American entertainers include Dino Paul Crocetti (Dean Martin); Alicia Augello Cook (Alicia Keys); Anthony Dominick Benedetto (Tony Bennett), Stefani Joanne Angelina Germanotta (Lady Gaga); actors Al Pacino, Susan Sarandon, and Leonardo DiCaprio, and of course Ol' Blue Eyes, Frank Sinatra.

 

One of the steelworkers who built the stairwells of the Twin Towers, the flagpole at the first Yankee Stadium, and the steel in Stony Brook University was Sarah's father, Vincent Battaglia. He will forever be her favorite Italian-American!