Editing Italian Americans (section)

== Culture and societal influences ==
The historical figure of [[Christopher Columbus]] is commemorated on [[Columbus Day]] and is reflected in numerous monuments, city names, names of institutions, and the poetic name, "[[Columbia (personification)|Columbia,"]] for the United States itself. Italian American identification with the Genoese explorer, whose fame lay in his grand voyages departing [[Europe]] and crossing the [[Atlantic Ocean]] to make discoveries in the [[New World]], playing an important role in [[History of the United States|American history]] and identity; but was not of major significance in the Italian American sense of nationalism and general attachment to [[Italy]]. This identification contrasts, for example, to the preoccupations of [[Irish Americans]] with the political situation in [[Republic of Ireland|Ireland]] throughout the 20th century and [[American Jews]]' deep personal investment in the fate of [[Israel]].<ref name="Sowell" />

===Politics===
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In the 1930s, Italian Americans voted heavily [[Democratic Party (United States)|Democratic]].<ref>{{cite journal |last1=See Rudolph |first1=J. Vecoli |year=1996 |title=The Coming Of Age Of Italian Americans: 1945-1974", ''Ethnicity'' 1978 5(2) 119-147; and Stefano Luconi, "Machine Politics and the Consolidation of the Roosevelt Majority: The Case of Italian Americans in Pittsburgh and Philadelphia |journal=Journal of American Ethnic History |volume=15 |issue=2 |pages=32–59}}</ref> [[Carmine DeSapio]] in the late 1940s became the first to break the Irish Catholic hold on [[Tammany Hall]] since the 1870s. By 1951, more than twice as many Italian American legislators as in 1936 served in the six states with the most Italian Americans.<ref name="lubell1956">{{cite book |author=Lubell, Samuel |title=The Future of American Politics |publisher=Anchor Press |year=1956 |edition=2nd |page=70 |ol=6193934M}}</ref> Since 1968, voters have split about evenly between the Democratic (37 percent) and the [[Republican Party (United States)|Republican]] (36 percent) parties.<ref>{{cite web |date=October 14, 2007 |title=NIAF. Two Days of Italian/American Affairs |url=http://www.i-italy.org/645/niaf-two-days-italian-american-affairs |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150216171254/http://www.i-italy.org/645/niaf-two-days-italian-american-affairs |archive-date=February 16, 2015 |access-date=September 2, 2010 |publisher=I-italy.org}}</ref>  The [[United States Congress|U.S. Congress]] includes Italian Americans who are leaders in both the Republican and Democratic parties. In 2007, [[Nancy Pelosi]] (D-CA) became the first woman and Italian American [[Speaker of the United States House of Representatives]]. Former [[Republican Party (United States)|Republican]] New York City mayor [[Rudy Giuliani]] was a candidate for the U.S. presidency in the [[2008 United States presidential election|2008 election]]. [[Mike Pompeo]], American politician, diplomat, businessman, and attorney, served as the 70th [[United States secretary of state]] from 2018 to 2021. [[Ron DeSantis]], governor of Florida since 2019, is of Italian ancestry.
[[Geraldine Ferraro]] was the first woman on a major party ticket, running for [[Vice President of the United States|vice president]] as a Democrat in 1984. Two justices of the [[Supreme Court of the United States|Supreme Court]] have been Italian Americans, [[Antonin Scalia]] and [[Samuel Alito]]. Both were appointed by Republican presidents, Scalia by [[Ronald Reagan]] and Alito by [[George W. Bush]].

The [[Italian American Congressional Delegation]] currently includes 30 members of Congress who are of Italian descent. They are joined by more than 150 associate members, who are not Italian American but have large Italian American constituencies. Since its founding in 1975, the National Italian American Foundation (NIAF) has worked closely with the bicameral and bipartisan [[Italian American Congressional Delegation]], which is led by co-chairs Rep. [[Bill Pascrell]] of New Jersey and Rep. [[Pat Tiberi]] of Ohio.

By the 1890s, [[Italian Americans in New York City]] were mobilizing as a political force. They helped elect [[Fiorello La Guardia]] (a Republican) as mayor in 1933, and helped reelect him in 1937 and 1941. They rallied for [[Vincent R. Impellitteri]] (a Democrat) in 1950, and [[Rudolph W. Giuliani]] (a Republican) in 1989 (when he lost), and in 1993 and 1997 (when he won). All three Italian Americans aggressively fought to reduce crime in the city; each was known for his good relations with the city's powerful labor unions.<ref>Salvatore J. LaGumina, "New York City Italian American Mayors, La Guardia, Impellitteri, and Giuliani: Comparisons, Contrasts and Curiosities", ''Proceedings of the American Italian Historical Association'', Nov 2000, Vol. 33, pp 24–44</ref>  La Guardia and Giuliani have had the reputation among specialists on urban politics as two of the best mayors in American history.<ref>Sam Roberts (April 18, 2008), [https://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9C01E2D81730F932A05751C1A9679C8B63 "The Giuliani Years: History; La Guardia's Legacy Is Formidable, but it May Be Surpassed"], ''The New York Times''</ref><ref>Thomas Kessner, ''Fiorello H. LaGuardia and the Making of Modern New York'' (1989)</ref> Democrat [[Bill de Blasio]], the third mayor of Italian ancestry, served as the 109th [[mayor of New York City]] for two terms, from 2014 to 2021. [[Mario Cuomo]] (a Democrat) served as the 52nd [[governor of New York]] for three terms, from 1983 to 1995. His son [[Andrew Cuomo]] was the 56th governor of New York and previously served as secretary of housing and urban development from 1997 to 2001 and as the attorney general of New York from 2007 to 2010.

However, in contrast to other ethnic groups, Italian Americans demonstrate a marked lack of [[ethnocentrism]] and long history of political [[individualism]], eschewing ethnic [[Voting bloc|bloc voting]], preferring to vote on the basis of individual candidates and issues, embracing maverick political candidates over ethnic loyalties. Popular New York Mayor Fiorello La Guardia in fact underperformed among his own demographic; in 1941, La Guardia even lost the Italian vote to his Irish opponent [[William O'Dwyer]]. In 1965, when New York Democrats backed [[Mario Procaccino]], an Italian-born candidate for city comptroller, Procaccino lost the Italian vote and won his election only because of support in Jewish voter precincts. In the [[1973 New York City mayoral election]], the son of Italian immigrants [[Mario Biaggi]] failed to unite Italian voters as an ethnic bloc the way his Jewish opponent [[Abraham Beame]] could do to win the Democratic primary.<ref name="Sowell" /> In the [[1962 Massachusetts gubernatorial election]], incumbent Italian American Governor [[John Volpe]] lost his re-election campaign by a razor-thin 0.2 percent—a final margin that could be more than sufficiently explained by Volpe polling only 51 percent among the state's significant [[History of Italian Americans in Boston|population of Italian Americans]], roughly half of whom voted for old-line [[White Anglo-Saxon Protestants|Anglo-Saxon Protestant]] [[Endicott Peabody]] over a fellow ethnic.<ref name="Sowell" />

=== Economic and Social Conditions ===
[[File:21c Amadeo P Gianni USA stamp.jpg|thumb|right|upright|1973 U.S. postage stamp featuring [[Amadeo Giannini]]]]
Italian Americans have played a prominent role in the economy of the United States, and have founded companies of great national importance, such as [[Bank of America#Bank of Italy|Bank of America]] (by [[Amadeo Giannini]] in 1904), [[Qualcomm]], [[Subway (restaurant)|Subway]], [[Home Depot]], and [[Airbnb]] among [[List of Italian American business people|many others]]. Italian Americans have also made important contributions to the growth of the U.S. economy through their business expertise.  Italian Americans have served as CEO's of numerous major corporations, such as the Ford Motor Company and Chrysler Corporation by [[Lee Iacocca]], IBM Corporation by [[Samuel Palmisano]], Lucent Technologies by [[Patricia Russo]], the New York Stock Exchange by [[Richard Grasso]], Honeywell Incorporated by [[Michael Bonsignore]], and Intel by [[Paul Otellini]].  Economist [[Franco Modigliani]] was awarded the [[Nobel Prize in Economics]] "for his pioneering analyses of [[saving]] and of [[financial market]]s."<ref>[https://www.nobelprize.org/nobel_prizes/economic-sciences/laureates/1985/press.html Press Release], Nobel Prize Organisation, October 15, 1985</ref>  Economist [[Eugene Fama]] was awarded the Nobel Memorial Prize in Economic Sciences in 2013 for his contribution to the empirical analysis of portfolio theory, asset pricing, and the [[efficient-market hypothesis]].

About two-thirds of America's Italian immigrants arrived during 1900–1914. Many were of agrarian backgrounds, with little formal education and industrial skills, who became manual laborers heavily concentrated in the cities. Others came with traditional Italian skills as tailors; barbers; bricklayers; stonemasons and stone cutters; marble, tile, and terrazzo workers; fishermen; musicians; singers; shoemakers and shoe repairers; cooks and bakers; carpenters; grape growers; wine makers; silk makers; and dressmakers and seamstresses. Others came to provide for the needs of the immigrant communities, notably doctors, dentists, midwives, lawyers, teachers, morticians, priests, nuns, and brothers. Many of the skilled workers found work in their specialty, first in the Italian enclaves and eventually in the broader society. Traditional skills were often passed down from father to son and from mother to daughter.

By the second generation, approximately 70 percent of the men had [[blue-collar worker|blue-collar]] jobs, and the proportion was down to approximately 50 percent in the third generation, according to surveys in 1963.<ref name="HEAEG1980">{{cite encyclopedia |year=1980 |encyclopedia=Harvard Encyclopedia of American Ethnic Groups |publisher=[[Harvard University Press]] |url=https://archive.org/details/harvardencyclope00ther |last=Nelli |first=Humbert S. |editor-last=Thernstrom |editor-first=Stephan |editor-link=Stephan Thernstrom |pages=545–560 |isbn=0-674-37512-2 |oclc=1038430174 |editor2-last=Orlov |editor2-first=Ann |editor3-last=Handlin |editor3-first=Oscar |editor-link3=Oscar Handlin |article=Italians}}</ref> By 1987, the level of Italian American income exceeded the national average, and since the 1950s, it grew faster than any other ethnic group except the Jews.<ref>{{cite book |author1=Frank M. Sorrentino |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=roDRYQV5etUC&pg=PA259 |title=The Review of Italian American Studies |author2=Jerome Krase |publisher=Lexington Books |year=2000 |isbn=978-0-7391-0159-9 |page=259}}</ref> By 1990, according to the U.S. census, more than 65 percent of Italian Americans were employed as managerial, professional, or [[White-collar worker|white-collar]] workers. In 1999, the median annual income of Italian-American families was $61,300, while the median annual income of all American families was $50,000.<ref>{{cite web |title=A Profile of Today's Italian Americans: A Report Based on the Year 2000 Census |url=http://www.osia.org/documents/IA_Profile.pdf |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110927000712/http://www.osia.org/documents/IA_Profile.pdf |archive-date=September 27, 2011 |access-date=July 21, 2011 |publisher=Order of the Sons of Italy in America}}</ref>

A [[University of Chicago]] study<ref>''Comparative Study of Fifteen Ethnic Groups'', University of Chicago Study, 1994</ref>  of 15 ethnic groups showed that Italian Americans were among those groups having the lowest percentages of divorced people, unemployed people, people on welfare, and people incarcerated. On the other hand, they were among those groups with the highest percentages of two-parent families, elderly family members still living at home, and families who eat together on a regular basis.

=== Science ===

[[File:RasettiFermiSegre.JPG|thumb|upright=1.3|[[Enrico Fermi]] between [[Franco Rasetti]] (left) and [[Emilio Segrè]] in [[academic dress]]]]
Italian Americans have been responsible for major breakthroughs in virtually all fields of science, including engineering, medicine, and physics. Physicist and Nobel Prize laureate [[Enrico Fermi]] was the creator of the world's first nuclear reactor, the [[Chicago Pile-1]], and among the leading scientists involved in the [[Manhattan Project]] during World War II. One of Fermi's main collaborators, [[Franco Rasetti]], was awarded the [[Charles Doolittle Walcott Medal]] by the [[National Academy of Sciences]] for his contributions to Cambrian paleontology. [[Federico Faggin]] developed the first microchip and microprocessor.
[[Alberto Sangiovanni-Vincentelli]] was a key figure whose pioneering technical developments and entrepreneurial drive established the standard chip software-design tool used across the world today.
[[Robert Gallo]] led research that identified a cancer-causing virus. [[Anthony Fauci]] in 2008 was awarded the [[Presidential Medal of Freedom]] for his work on the [[AIDS]] relief program [[President's Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief|PEPFAR]].<ref>{{Cite news |date=2021 |title=Fauci: The Virus Hunter |work=PBS |type=Special Documentary}}</ref> Astrophysicist [[Riccardo Giacconi]] was awarded the 2002 Nobel Prize in Physics for his contributions to the discovery of cosmic X-ray sources. Virologist [[Renato Dulbecco]] won the 1975 [[Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine]] for his work on [[oncovirus]]es. Pharmacologist [[Louis Ignarro]] was co-recipient of the 1998 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine for demonstrating the signaling properties of nitric oxide. Microbiologist [[Salvador Luria]] won the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine in 1969 for his contribution to major discoveries on the replication mechanism and the genetic structure of viruses. Physicist [[William Daniel Phillips]] in 1997 won the Nobel Prize in Physics for his contributions to [[laser cooling]]. Physicist [[Emilio Segrè]] discovered the elements [[technetium]] and [[astatine]], and the [[antiproton]], a subatomic antiparticle, for which he was awarded the Nobel Prize in Physics in 1959. Nine Italian Americans, including a woman, have gone into space as astronauts: [[Wally Schirra]], [[Dominic A. Antonelli|Dominic Antonelli]], [[Charles Camarda]], [[Mike Massimino]], [[Richard Mastracchio]], [[Ronald Parise]], [[Mario Runco]], [[Albert Sacco]], and [[Nicole Marie Passonno Stott]]. [[Rocco Petrone]] was the third director of the NASA [[Marshall Space Flight Center]], from 1973 to 1974.

===Women===

[[File:Italian Girl (14yo) Paper Box Factory 1913.png|thumb|A fourteen year old Italian girl working at a paper-box factory (1913)]]
[[File:Image of Triangle Shirtwaist Factory fire on March 25 - 1911.jpg|thumb|200px|The [[Triangle Shirtwaist Factory fire]] in 1911. The victims were almost exclusively Jewish and Italian female immigrants.]]
[[File:Francesca Cabrini.JPG|thumb|[[Mother Cabrini]]]]
[[File:ESL 1918.JPG|thumb|An Italian immigrant making an [[American breakfast]] aided by instructional materials from the [[YMCA]]]]

Italian women who arrived during the period of mass immigration had to adapt to new and unfamiliar social and economic conditions. Mothers, who had the task of raising the children and providing for the welfare of the family, commonly demonstrated great courage and resourcefulness in meeting those obligations, often under adverse living conditions. Their cultural traditions, which placed the highest priority on the family, remained strong as Italian immigrant women adapted to these new circumstances.

To assist the immigrants in the Little Italys, who were overwhelmingly Catholic, Pope [[Leo XIII]] dispatched a contingent of priests, nuns, and brothers of the [[Missionaries of St. Charles Borromeo]] and other orders. Among these was Sister [[Francesca Cabrini]], who founded dozens of schools, hospitals, and orphanages. She was canonized as the first American saint in 1946.

Married women typically avoided factory work and chose home-based economic activities such as dressmaking, taking in boarders, and operating small shops in their homes or neighborhoods. Italian neighborhoods also proved attractive to [[midwifery|midwives]], women who trained in Italy before coming to America.<ref>Vecchio (2006)</ref> Many single women were employed in the garment industry as seamstresses, often in unsafe working environments. Many of the 146 who died in the [[Triangle Shirtwaist Factory fire]] in 1911 were Italian American women. [[Angela Bambace]] was an 18-year-old Italian American organizer for the [[International Ladies Garment Workers Union]] in New York who worked to secure better working conditions and shorter hours for women workers in the garment industry.

After World War II, Italian American women acquired an increasing degree of freedom in choosing a career and seeking higher levels of education.  Consequently, the second half of the 20th century was a period in which Italian American women excelled in virtually all fields of endeavor. In politics, [[Geraldine Ferraro]] was the first woman vice presidential candidate, [[Ella Grasso]] was the first woman elected as a state governor, and [[Nancy Pelosi]] was the first woman Speaker of the House. In 1980, [[Mother Angelica]] (Rita Rizzo), a Franciscan nun, founded the [[EWTN|Eternal Word Television Network]] (EWTN), a network viewed regularly by millions of Catholics. [[JoAnn Falletta]] was the first woman to become a permanent conductor of a major symphony orchestra (with both the [[Virginia Symphony Orchestra]] and the [[Buffalo Philharmonic Orchestra]]). [[Penny Marshall]] (Masciarelli) was one of the first women directors in Hollywood. [[Catherine DeAngelis]], M.D., was the first woman editor of the ''[[JAMA|Journal of the American Medical Association]]''. [[Patricia Fili-Krushel]] was the first woman president of ABC Television. [[Bonnie Tiburzi]] was the first woman pilot in commercial aviation history. [[Patricia Russo]] was the first woman to become CEO of [[Lucent Technologies]]. [[Karen Ignagni]] was the first woman to serve as the CEO of American Health Insurance Plans, an umbrella organization representing all major [[Health maintenance organization|HMOs]] in the country. [[Nicole Marie Passonno Stott]] was one of the first women to go into space as an astronaut. [[Carolyn Porco]], a world recognized expert in planetary probes, is the leader of the imaging science team for the [[Cassini–Huygens|''Cassini'' probe]], which orbited [[Saturn]].

[[The National Organization of Italian American Women]] (NOIAW), founded in 1980, is an organization for women of Italian heritage committed to preserving Italian heritage, language, and culture by promoting and supporting the advancement of women of Italian ancestry.

===Religion===
[[File:Anthony of Padua RCC cloudy jeh.jpg|thumb|left|[[St. Anthony of Padua Church (Manhattan)|St. Anthony of Padua Church]] in New York was established in 1859 as the first parish in the United States formed specifically to serve the Italian immigrant community.]]

The majority of Italian Americans are [[Catholic Church|Catholics]], although Catholic affiliation among Italian American adults has fallen from 89 percent in 1972 to 56 percent in 2010 (-33 percentage points).<ref name="Nineteen Sixty-four">{{cite web |date=July 8, 2011 |title=An Italian American Mystery |url=http://nineteensixty-four.blogspot.com/2011/07/italian-american-mystery.html |access-date=May 31, 2021 |website=nineteensixty-four.blogspot.com |publisher=Center for Applied Research in the Apostolate (CARA) at [[Georgetown University]]}}</ref> By 1910, Italian Americans had founded 219 Catholic churches and 41 parochial schools, served by 315 priests and 254 nuns, 2 Catholic seminaries, and 3 orphanages.<ref>''The Catholic Encyclopedia'', Vol. 8, 1910</ref> Four hundred Italian Jesuit priests left Italy for the American West between 1848 and 1919. Most of these Jesuits left their homeland involuntarily, expelled by Italian nationalists in the successive waves of Italian unification that dominated Italy. When they came to the West, they ministered to Native Americans in the Northwest, Irish-Americans in San Francisco, and Mexican Americans in the Southwest. They also ran the nation's most influential Catholic seminary, in Woodstock, Maryland. In addition to their pastoral work, they founded numerous high schools and colleges, including [[Regis University]], [[Santa Clara University]], the [[University of San Francisco]], and [[Gonzaga University]].<ref>Gerald McKevitt ''BROKERS OF CULTURE, ITALIAN JESUITS IN THE AMERICAN WEST, 1848–1919'' (Stanford University Press, 2007). See review of book by John T. McGreevy ("Off A Distant Land") in ''AMERICA'', 7, May 2007, 30–31.</ref>

[[File:Fr_Demo_Church_jeh.JPG|thumb|[[Our Lady of Pompeii Church (Manhattan)|Our Lady of Pompeii Church]] in New York was founded in 1892 as a national parish to serve Italian-American immigrants who settled in Greenwich Village.]]

While most Italian American families have a Catholic background, about 19 percent self-identified as [[Protestant]] in 2010.<ref name="Nineteen Sixty-four" /> In the early 20th century, about 300 Protestant missionaries worked in urban Italian American neighborhoods. Some have joined the [[Episcopal Church (United States)|Episcopal Church]], which still retains much of the Catholic [[liturgy|liturgical]] form. Some have converted to [[evangelicalism|evangelical]] churches. [[Fiorello La Guardia]] was raised Episcopalian; his father was Catholic, and his mother was from the small but significant community of [[Italian Jews]]. There is a small [[Charismatic Movement|charismatic]] denomination, known as the [[Christian Church of North America]], which is rooted in the Italian [[Pentecostalism|Pentecostal Movement]] that originated in [[Chicago]] in the early 20th century. A group of Italian immigrants in [[Trenton, New Jersey]], and [[Wakefield, Massachusetts]], built their own small Baptist chapel and converted to the [[Baptists|Baptist]] denomination. [[The Church of Jesus Christ (Bickertonite)]], a denomination of the [[Latter Day Saint movement]], which is headquartered in [[Monongahela, Pennsylvania]], counts significant numbers of Italian Americans in its leadership and membership.<ref>{{Cite journal |last1=Form |first1=William |year=2000 |title=Italian Protestants: Religion, Ethnicity, and Assimilation |journal=Journal for the Scientific Study of Religion |volume=39 |issue=3 |pages=307–320 |doi=10.1111/0021-8294.00026 |jstor=1387816}}</ref> The town of [[Valdese, North Carolina]], was founded in 1893 by a group of Italians of [[Waldensian]] religion, originally from the [[Cottian Alps]] in Italy.

==== Italian Jews ====
{{See also|Italian Jews}}

[[File:Segre.jpg|thumb|354x354px|[[Emilio Segrè]], who was awarded the [[Nobel Prize in Physics]] in 1959, was among the Italian Jews who emigrated to the United States after Mussolini's regime implemented an anti-semitic legislation.]]

The Jewish emigration from Italy was never at a level that resulted in the formation of Italian Jewish communities in the United States.  Religious Italian Jews integrated into existing Jewish communities without difficulty, especially in [[Sephardi Jews|Sephardic]] communities, and those who were secular found Jewish secular institutions in the United States ready to welcome them. Despite their small numbers, Italian American Jews have had a great influence on American life,<ref>Jack Nusan Porter, "Italian American Jews," in ''The Italian American Experience: An Encyclopedia'', ed. Salvatore J. LaGumina (New York: Garland, 2000), pp.302–303.</ref> starting with [[Lorenzo Da Ponte]] (born ''Emanuele Conegliano''), Mozart's former librettist, opera impresario and the first professor of Italian at [[Columbia University|Columbia College]] in New York, where he lived from 1805 to his death in 1838.

From a religious point of view, the figure of greatest influence is Rabbi [[Sabato Morais]], who, at the end of the 19th century, was the leader of the large Sephardic community of Philadelphia. In 1886, he became one of the founders of the [[Jewish Theological Seminary of America]] in New York, where he became its first dean. Two other Italian Jews achieved prominence in the United States in the first half of the 20th century: [[Giorgio Polacco]] was the principal conductor of the [[Metropolitan Opera House (Lincoln Center)|Metropolitan Opera House]] (1915–1917) and the [[Chicago Civic Opera]] (1921–1930), and [[Fiorello La Guardia]] was a member of the U.S. Congress (1917–1919 and 1923–1933) and a popular mayor of New York (1934–1945). A descendant on his mother's side of the great Italian rabbi [[Samuel David Luzzatto]], La Guardia could address his constituency in both Italian and [[Yiddish]].

Under [[Mussolini]]'s [[Italian Racial Laws|Racial Laws]] of 1938, Italian Jews, who had lived in Italy for over two millennia, were stripped of most of their civil liberties. Finding refuge in the United States as a result of the fascist persecutions during the 1930s and 1940s, roughly 2,000 Italian Jews landed in America and continued their work in a wide range of fields.<ref>{{cite web |title=The Italian Jewish Exiles in America. An Overview by Gianna Pontecorboli |url=https://primolevicenter.org/the-italian-jewish-exiles-in-america-an-overview-by-gianna-pontecorboli/ |access-date=May 31, 2021 |publisher=Centro Primo Levi New York}}</ref> Many achieved international importance, including [[Giorgio Levi Della Vida]], [[Mario Castelnuovo-Tedesco]], [[Vittorio Rieti]], [[Bruno Rossi]], [[Emilio Segre]]
[[Giorgio Cavaglieri]], [[Ugo Fano]], [[Robert Fano]], [[Guido Fubini]], [[Eugene Fubini]], and [[Silvano Arieti]]. Of particular importance also are the contributions of the Italian Jewish women Maria Bianca Finzi-Contini, Bianca Ara Artom, and [[Giuliana Tesoro]], who opened the fields of university and scientific research to Italian American women. After the war, four Italian American Jews received the Nobel Prize: [[Franco Modigliani]], [[Emilio Segre]], [[Salvador Luria]], and [[Rita Levi Montalcini]]. Also of significance are the contributions of communication specialist [[Andrew Viterbi]], journalist and writer [[Ken Auletta]], and economist [[Guido Calabresi]]. The international recognition of the work of [[Primo Levi]] and other Italian-Jewish authors, such as [[Giorgio Bassani]] and [[Carlo Levi]], has increased the interest in the United States in Italian Judaism, as demonstrated by the opening in 1998 of the [[Primo Levi Center]] of New York.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Centro Primo Levi New York |url=https://primolevicenter.org/ |accessdate=March 3, 2024}}</ref>

===Feasts===
An important event brought over from Italy by the early Italian immigrants is the festa.  This was for many an important connection to the traditions of their ancestral villages in Italy. The festa involved an elaborate procession through the streets in honor of a patron saint or the Virgin Mary. The festa became an important occasion that helped give the immigrants a sense of unity and common identity. This tradition has continued into the modern day as well.

In some Sicilian American communities, primarily [[Buffalo, New York|Buffalo]] and [[New Orleans]], [[Saint Joseph's Day]] (March 19) is marked by parades and celebrations, including traditional "St. Joseph's tables," where meatless dishes are served for the benefit of the communities' poor. [[Columbus Day]] is also widely celebrated, as are the feasts of some regional Italian [[patron saint]]s. In [[North End, Boston|Boston's North End]], the Italian immigrants celebrate the "Feast of all Feasts," [[Feast of St. Anthony|Saint Anthony's Feast]]. Started in 1919 by Italian immigrants from Montefalcione, a small town near Naples, Italy, the feast is widely considered the largest and most authentic Italian religious festival in the United States. More than 100 vendors and 300,000 people attend the feast over a three-day period in August. [[Saint Januarius|San Gennaro]] (September 19) is another popular saint, especially among Neapolitans. [[Saint Rosalia|Santa Rosalia]] (September 4), is celebrated by immigrants from [[Sicily]]. Immigrants from [[Potenza]] celebrate the [[Saint Roch|San Rocco]]'s Day (August 16) feast at the Potenza Lodge in [[Denver]] the third weekend of August. San Rocco is the patron saint of Potenza, as is [[Gerard Majella|San Gerardo]]. Many still celebrate the Christmas season with a [[Feast of the Seven Fishes]]. The [[Feast of the Assumption]] is celebrated in [[Cleveland]]'s Little Italy on August 15. On this feast day, people will pin money on a [[Blessed Virgin Mary]] statue as a symbol of prosperity. The statue is then paraded through Little Italy to Holy Rosary Church.

===Education===
[[File:Logue House 1101 Milford.jpg|thumb|Italian Cultural and Community Center ([[Logue House]]) in the [[Houston Museum District]]]]
During the era of mass immigration, rural families in Italy did not place a high value on formal education since they needed their children to help with chores as soon as they were old enough. For many, this attitude did not change upon arriving in America, where children were expected to help support the family as soon as possible.<ref>{{cite book |last=Franco |first=J. Philip di |url=https://archive.org/details/italianamericans0000difr/page/37 |title=The Italian Americans |publisher=Chelsea House Publishers |year=1988 |isbn=0-87754-886-2 |edition=1. print. |location=New York |pages=[https://archive.org/details/italianamericans0000difr/page/37 37–38]}}</ref> This view toward education steadily changed with each successive generation.  The 1970 census revealed that those under age 45 had achieved a level of education comparable to the national average,<ref name="Vecoli 1978">Vecoli (1978)</ref> and within six decades of their peak immigration year, Italian Americans as a whole had equaled the national average in educational attainment.<ref>{{Cite news |last=Chavez |first=Linda |date=March 25, 2011 |title=Hispanic population booms |url=http://townhall.com/columnists/lindachavez/2011/03/25/hispanic_boom |newspaper=[[Florida Today]] |location=Melbourne, Florida |pages=9A}}</ref><!---hard copy and soft copy sources are different. They are the same article, however--> Presently, according to Census Bureau data, Italian Americans have an average high school graduation rate, and a higher rate of advanced degrees compared to the national average.<ref name="US Census Bureau, Italian">{{cite web |author=United States Census Bureau |title=US demographic census |url=http://factfinder.census.gov/servlet/IPTable?_bm=y&-reg=ACS_2006_EST_G00_S0201:543;ACS_2006_EST_G00_S0201PR:543;ACS_2006_EST_G00_S0201T:543;ACS_2006_EST_G00_S0201TPR:543&-qr_name=ACS_2006_EST_G00_S0201&-qr_name=ACS_2006_EST_G00_S0201PR&-qr_name=ACS_2006_EST_G00_S0201T&-qr_name=ACS_2006_EST_G00_S0201TPR&-ds_name=ACS_2006_EST_G00_&-TABLE_NAMEX=&-ci_type=A&-redoLog=true&-charIterations=047&-geo_id=01000US&-geo_id=NBSP&-format=&-_lang=en |archive-url=https://archive.today/20200212043917/http://factfinder.census.gov/servlet/IPTable?_bm=y&-reg=ACS_2006_EST_G00_S0201:543;ACS_2006_EST_G00_S0201PR:543;ACS_2006_EST_G00_S0201T:543;ACS_2006_EST_G00_S0201TPR:543&-qr_name=ACS_2006_EST_G00_S0201&-qr_name=ACS_2006_EST_G00_S0201PR&-qr_name=ACS_2006_EST_G00_S0201T&-qr_name=ACS_2006_EST_G00_S0201TPR&-ds_name=ACS_2006_EST_G00_&-TABLE_NAMEX=&-ci_type=A&-redoLog=true&-charIterations=047&-geo_id=01000US&-geo_id=NBSP&-format=&-_lang=en |archive-date=February 12, 2020 |access-date=April 15, 2008}}</ref> Italian Americans throughout the United States are well represented in a wide variety of occupations and professions, from skilled trades, to the arts, to engineering, science, mathematics, law, and medicine, and include a number of [[Nobel prize]] [[List of Nobel laureates|winners]].<ref>{{cite web |title=Nobel Prize Winners of Italian Descent |url=http://www.italiansrus.com/articles/nobelprizes.htm |access-date=September 3, 2010 |publisher=Italiansrus.com}}</ref>

There are two Italian international schools in the United States, [[La Scuola International]]<ref>{{Cite news |title=La Scuola, the only Italian Immersion School in San Francisco, receives recognition as the first and only Italian Accredited School on the west coast! |url=https://lascuolasanfrancisco.squarespace.com/blog/lascuolasanfranciscointernationalschool |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190110133749/https://lascuolasanfrancisco.squarespace.com/blog/lascuolasanfranciscointernationalschool |archive-date=January 10, 2019 |access-date=January 10, 2019 |website=La Scuola International School |language=en-US}}</ref> in San Francisco, and [[La Scuola d'Italia Guglielmo Marconi]] in New York City.<ref>"[http://www.lascuoladitalia.org/about-la-scuola/ About la scuola] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150623234736/http://www.lascuoladitalia.org/about-la-scuola/|date=2015-06-23}}." [[La Scuola d'Italia Guglielmo Marconi]]. Retrieved on May 2, 2015.</ref>

===Media===

====Television personalities====
Numerous American television and Cable personalities are of Italian descent. Talk-show hosts include [[Jay Leno]], [[Jimmy Kimmel]], [[Kelly Ripa]], [[Maria Bartiromo]], [[Adam Carolla]], [[Neil Cavuto]], [[Kelly Monaco]], [[Jai Rodriguez]], [[Annette Funicello]], [[Victoria Gotti]], [[Tony Danza]], [[Giuliana DePandi]], [[Giuliana Rancic]], Bruno Cipriani.<ref>{{cite web |date=November 19, 2015 |title=Famous Italian American TV Personalities |url=https://www.lifeinitaly.com/cinema-italiano/italian-movies/italian-american-tv-celebrities/ |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210623171048/https://www.lifeinitaly.com/cinema-italiano/italian-movies/italian-american-tv-celebrities/ |archive-date=June 23, 2021 |access-date=May 15, 2021 |website=Life in Italy}}</ref>  

====Italian American newspapers====
[[Generoso Pope]] (1891–1950), the owner of a chain of Italian language newspapers in major cities, stands out as the epitome of the Italian American ethnic political broker. He bought ''[[Il Progresso Italo-Americano]]'' in 1928 for $2 million; he doubled its circulation to 200,000 in New York City, making it the largest Italian-language paper in the country. He purchased additional papers in New York and [[Philadelphia]], which became the chief source of political, social, and cultural information for the community. Pope encouraged his readers to learn English, become citizens, and vote; his goal was to instill pride and ambition to succeed in modern America. A conservative Democrat who ran the Columbus Day parade and admired Mussolini, Pope was the most powerful enemy of anti-Fascism among Italian Americans. Closely associated with [[Tammany Hall]] politics in New York, Pope and his newspapers played a vital role in securing the Italian vote for [[New Deal Coalition|Franklin D. Roosevelt's Democratic tickets]]. He served as chairman of the Italian Division of the Democratic National Committee in 1936, and helped persuade the president to take a neutral attitude over [[Second Italo-Ethiopian War|Italy's invasion of Ethiopia]]. He broke with Mussolini in 1941 and enthusiastically supported the American war effort. In the late 1940s Pope supported the election of [[William O'Dwyer]] as mayor in 1945 and [[Harry S. Truman]] as president. His business concerns continued to prosper under New York's Democratic administrations, and in 1946 he added the Italian-language radio station [[WHOM]] to his media holdings. In the early years of the [[Cold War]], Pope was a leading [[anti-Communist]] and orchestrated a letter-writing campaign by his subscribers to stop the Communists from winning the [[Italian elections in 1948]].<ref>Philip V. Cannistraro, "Generoso Pope and the Rise of Italian American Politics, 1925-1936", in ''Italian Americans: New Perspectives in Italian Immigration and Ethnicity'', edited by Lydio F. Tomasi, (1985) pp 264–288.</ref>

Voters did not always vote the way editorials dictated, but they depended on the news coverage. At many smaller papers, support for Mussolini, short-sighted opportunism, deference to political patrons who were not members of the Italian-American communities, and the necessity of making a living through periodicals with a small circulation, generally weakened the owners of Italian-language newspapers when they tried to become political brokers of the Italian American vote.<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Luconi |first1=Stefano |year=2001 |title=Generoso Pope and Italian-American Voters in New York City |journal=Studi Emigrazione |volume=38 |issue=142 |pages=399–422}}</ref>

James V. Donnaruma purchased Boston's ''La Gazzetta del Massachusetts'' in 1905. ''La Gazzetta'' enjoyed a wide readership in Boston's Italian community because it emphasized detailed coverage of local ethnic events and explained how events in Europe affected the community. Donnaruma's editorial positions, however, were frequently at odds with the sentiments of his readership. Donnaruma's conservative views and desire for greater advertising revenue prompted him to court the favor of Boston's [[Republican Party (United States)|Republican]] elite, to whom he pledged editorial support in return for the purchase of advertising space for political campaigns. ''La Gazzetta'' consistently supported Republican candidates and policy positions, even when the party was proposing and passing laws to restrict Italian immigration. Nevertheless, voting records from the 1920s–1930s show that Boston's Italian Americans voted heavily for Democratic candidates.<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Deschamps |first1=Benedicte |last2=Luconi |first2=Stefano |year=2002 |title=The Publisher of the Foreign-Language Press as an Ethnic Leader? The Case of James V. Donnaruma and Boston's Italian-American Community in the Interwar Years |journal=[[Historical Journal of Massachusetts]] |volume=30 |issue=2 |pages=126–143}}</ref><ref>{{cite journal |last1=Eula |first1=Michael J. |year=2001 |title=Ethnicity and Newark's 'Italian Tribune', 1934–1980 |journal=Italian Americana |volume=19 |issue=1 |pages=23–35}}</ref>

[[Carmelo Zito]] took over the [[San Francisco]] newspaper ''Il Corriere del Popolo'' in 1935. Under Zito, it became one of the fiercest foes of Mussolini's fascism on the West Coast. It vigorously attacked Italy's 1935 invasion of Ethiopia and its intervention in the [[Spanish Civil War]]. Zito helped form the Italian-American Anti-Fascist League and often attacked certain Italian prominenti like Ettore Patrizi, publisher of ''L'Italia'' and ''La Voce del Popolo''. Zito's paper campaigned against alleged Italian pro-Fascist language schools of San Francisco.<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Deschamps |first1=Bénédicte |year=2001 |title=Opposing Fascism in the West: The Experience of 'Il Corriere Del Popolo' in San Francisco in the Late 1930s |journal=Proceedings of the American Italian Historical Association |volume=34 |pages=109–123}}</ref>

In 1909, Vincenzo Giuliano, an immigrant from Calabria, Italy and his wife Maria Oliva founded ''La Tribune Italiana d'America'', known today as ''The Italian Tribune'', which circulates throughout southeastern Michigan.  A second newspaper founded by a Catholic order of priests, '' La Voce del Popolo'' also served the Metro Detroit community until the 1920s, when that newspaper merged with ''La Tribuna Italiana d'America''.  Upon Giuliano's death in the 1960s, his family continued the paper.

=== Organizations ===
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Italian-American organizations include:
* [[Alpha Phi Delta]]
* [[American Italian Anti-Defamation League]]
* [[Columbus Citizens Foundation]]
* [[Italian American Congressional Delegation]]
* [[Italian American One Voice Coalition]]
* [[Italian-American Civil Rights League]]
* [[Italian-American National Union]]
* [[Italy–USA Foundation]]
* [[National Organization of Italian American Women]]
* [[Order Sons of Italy in America]]
* [[Unico National]]
* The Columbian Foundation
* American Relief for Italy, Inc (ARI)

In 1944, the creation of the American Relief for Italy, Inc (ARI) functioned as an umbrella organization until 1946. The ARI collected, shipped, and distributed over $10 million of relief materials donated by other Italian organizations and individuals from all over Italy. Catholic charities, labor unions, cultural clubs, and fraternal organizations all responded in helping to raise money for the ARI. These relief materials were donated to Italians in need and helped to provide humanitarian assistance. All remaining donations were distributed to Italian soldiers at war. This organization was one of the first steps in the lengthy process of political and economic stabilizations in postwar Italy.<ref name="Battisti">{{Cite journal |last=Battisti |first=Danielle |date=2012 |title=The American Committee on Italian Migration, Anti-Communism, and Immigration Reform |journal=Journal of American Ethnic History |volume=31 |issue=2 |pages=11–40 |doi=10.5406/jamerethnhist.31.2.0011 |issn=0278-5927 |jstor=10.5406/jamerethnhist.31.2.0011}}</ref>
* American Committee on Italian Migration (ACIM)

Throughout the 1950s and the 1960s, the American Committee on Italian Migration (ACIM) was one of the largest, most active Italian American organizations in the United States. They gave assistance to Italian immigrants living in the United States threatened by political instability and provided recovery for those in need. Frequently, money and supplies were sent back home to those who were unable to migrate or were in the process of migrating to the United States. Most of these people were the women and children Italian men left behind in hopes of starting a new life in America. The ACIM grew rapidly with hundreds of thousands of members being both donors and beneficiaries.<ref name="Battisti" />
* National Catholic Welfare Conference (NCWC)

The National Catholic Welfare Conference (NCWC) worked with ACIM on legislative campaigns and immigration projects. In 1951, members from NCWC, ACIM, as well as other Italian Americans joined in efforts to create an organization that specifically benefited and focused on assisting Italian immigrants. After a vast effort in 1953, the Refugee Relief Act (RRA) was passed allowing the entrance of over two hundred thousand Italian immigrants into the United States. The RRA provided these Italian immigrants with many opportunities to start their new life in America. Job opportunities, a place to live, and proper education for immigrants children were provided.<ref name="Battisti" />

The National Italian American Foundation (NIAF) <ref>{{Cite web |title=Home |url=https://www.niaf.org/ |accessdate=March 3, 2024 |website=The National Italian American Foundation}}</ref> – a nonpartisan, nonprofit organization headquartered in Washington, D.C. – works to represent Italian Americans, spread knowledge of the Italian language, foster U.S./Italy relations and connect the greater Italian American community. Additionally, two major Italian American fraternal and service organizations, [[Order Sons of Italy in America]] and [[Unico National]], actively promote knowledge of Italian American history and culture.

The Italian Heritage and Culture Committee&nbsp;– NY, Inc. was founded in 1976, and has organized special events, concerts, exhibits and lectures celebrating Italian culture in New York City. Each year it focuses on a theme representative of the history and culture of Italy and Italian Americans.

The Italic Institute of America<ref name="italic.org">{{cite web |title=Italic Institute of America |url=http://www.italic.org |access-date=January 16, 2013 |publisher=Italic.org}}</ref> is dedicated to fostering and preserving knowledge of the classical Italian heritage of American society, through the Latin language and Greco-Roman-Etruscan civilization, as well as five centuries of contributions to American society by Italians and their descendants.