Editing Italian Americans (section)

===Before 1880===
{{main|Italians in the United States before 1880}}
[[File:Ridolfo del Ghirlandaio - Ritratto di Cristoforo Colombo (1520).jpg|thumb|left|upright|The Italian explorer [[Christopher Columbus]] leads an expedition to the New World, 1492. [[Voyages of Christopher Columbus|His voyages]] are celebrated as the discovery of the Americas from a European perspective, and they opened a [[Early modern period|new era]] in the history of humankind and sustained contact between the two worlds.]]

Italian<ref>Though the modern state of Italy had yet to be established, the Latin equivalent of the [[Italians#Name|term Italian]] had been in use for natives of [[Italian geographical region|the region]] since antiquity. See [[Pliny the Elder]], ''[[Epistulae (Pliny)|Letters]]'' 9.23.</ref> navigators and explorers played a key role in the exploration and settlement of the Americas by [[Europeans]]. [[Genoa|Genoese]] explorer [[Christopher Columbus]] completed [[Voyages of Christopher Columbus|four voyages across the Atlantic Ocean]] for the [[Catholic Monarchs of Spain|Catholic monarchs of Spain]], opening the way for the widespread European [[Age of Discovery|exploration]] and [[European colonization of the Americas|colonization]] of the Americas. [[John Cabot]] and his son [[Sebastian Cabot (explorer)|Sebastian]] explored the [[East Coast of the United States|eastern seaboard of North America]] for [[Henry VII of England|Henry VII]] in the early 16th century. In 1524, the [[Florence|Florentine]] explorer [[Giovanni da Verrazzano]] was the first European to explore the Atlantic coast of North America between Florida and New Brunswick.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Greene |first=George Washington |author-link=George Washington Greene |url={{Google books|1qsuAAAAYAAJ|page=PA13|keywords=|text=|plainurl=yes}} |title=The Life and Voyages of Verrazzano |date=1837 |publisher=Folsom, Wells, and Thurston |location=Cambridge University |page=13 |access-date=August 18, 2017 |via=Google Books}}</ref> The Italian explorer [[Amerigo Vespucci]] first demonstrated in about 1501 that the New World was not Asia as initially conjectured but a different continent ([[Naming of the Americas|America]] is named after him).<ref name="Martone">{{Cite book |last=Martone |first=Eric |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=MHJ1DQAAQBAJ&pg=PA109 |title=Italian Americans: The History and Culture of a People |date=2016 |publisher=ABC-CLIO |isbn=978-1-6106-9995-2 |page=504}}</ref>

The first Italian to be registered as residing in the area corresponding to the current United States was [[Pietro Cesare Alberti]],<ref name=ItalianHistoricalPage>{{cite web|url=http://www.italianhistorical.org/page63.html|title=Peter Caesar Alberti|access-date=June 2, 2011|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150914161128/http://www.italianhistorical.org/page63.html|archive-date=September 14, 2015|url-status=dead}}</ref> a Venetian seaman who, in 1635, settled in the [[Netherlands|Dutch]] colony of [[New Amsterdam]]. A small wave of Protestants, known as [[Waldensians]], immigrated during the 17th century, with the majority coming between 1654 and 1663.<ref>Memorials of the Huguenots in America, by Ammon Stapleton, page 42</ref> They spread out across what was then called [[New Netherland]] and what would become [[New York (state)|New York]], [[New Jersey]], and the Lower Delaware River regions.

[[Enrico Tonti]], together with the French explorer [[René-Robert Cavelier, Sieur de La Salle]], explored the [[Great Lakes region|Great Lakes]] region. De Tonti founded the first European settlement in [[Illinois]] in 1679 and in [[Arkansas]] in 1683, making him "The Father of Arkansas."<ref name=":15">{{Cite encyclopedia |url=https://encyclopediaofarkansas.net/entries/henri-de-tonti-2537/ |title=Henri de Tonti (1649–1704) |encyclopedia=[[Encyclopedia of Arkansas]] |year=2011|access-date=December 6, 2019}}</ref><ref name="HMdb">HMdb.org, "[https://www.hmdb.org/m.asp?m=109793 Henri de Tonti Historical Marker]", Natchitoches Parish, Louisiana. Retrieved August 9, 2009.</ref> With LaSalle, he co-founded [[New Orleans]] and was governor of the [[Louisiana Territory]] for the next 20 years. His brother [[Alphonse de Tonty]] (Alfonso de Tonti), with French explorer [[Antoine de la Mothe Cadillac]], was the co-founder of [[Detroit]] in 1701, and was its acting colonial governor for 12 years. The southwest and California were explored and mapped by Italian Jesuit priest [[Eusebio Kino]] in the late 17th and early 18th centuries.

The [[Taliaferro]] family, believed to have roots in [[Venice]], was one of the [[First Families of Virginia|First Families]] to settle [[Virginia]]; [[Richard Taliaferro]] designed much of [[Colonial Williamsburg]].<ref name="Wythe">{{cite web|url=http://www.history.org/almanack/people/bios/biowythe.cfm|title=Biography of George Wythe|access-date=October 7, 2017|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190528042040/http://www.history.org/almanack/people/bios/biowythe.cfm|archive-date=May 28, 2019}}</ref> The period from 1776 to 1880 saw a small stream of new arrivals from Italy. Some brought skills in agriculture and the making of glass, silk and wine, while others brought skills as musicians.<ref>Andrew F. Rolle, ''The immigrant upraised: Italian adventurers and colonists in an expanding America'' (U of Oklahoma Press, 1968).</ref> After American independence, numerous political refugees arrived, most notably [[Giuseppe Avezzana]], [[Alessandro Gavazzi]], [[Silvio Pellico]], [[Federico Confalonieri]], and [[Eleuterio Felice Foresti]]. [[Giuseppe Garibaldi]] resided in the United States in 1850–51.
[[File:Francevigovincennes.jpg|thumb|upright|Statue of [[Francesco Vigo]] in [[Vincennes, Indiana]], who aided the colonial forces of [[George Rogers Clark]] during the [[American Revolutionary War]]]]

In 1773–1785, [[Filippo Mazzei]], a close friend of [[Thomas Jefferson]], published a pamphlet containing the phrase, "All men are by nature equally free and independent,"<ref>Filippo Mazzei, ''[[The Virginia Gazette]]'', 1774. Translated by a friend and neighbor, Thomas Jefferson:<br>{{blockquote|''Tutti gli uomini sono per natura egualmente liberi e indipendenti. Quest'eguaglianza è necessaria per costituire un governo libero. Bisogna che ognuno sia uguale all'altro nel diritto naturale.''}}Translated by Jefferson as follow:{{blockquote|All men are by nature equally free and independent. Such equality is necessary in order to create a free government.<br> All men must be equal to each other in natural law}}</ref> which Jefferson incorporated essentially intact into the [[United States Declaration of Independence|Declaration of Independence]]. Italian Americans served in the [[American Revolutionary War]] both as soldiers and officers. [[Francesco Vigo]] aided the colonial forces of [[George Rogers Clark]] by serving as one of the foremost financiers of the Revolution in the frontier Northwest.

In 1789–91, [[Alessandro Malaspina]] mapped much of the [[West Coast of the United States|west coast of the Americas]]. In 1822–23, the headwater region of the [[Mississippi River|Mississippi]] was explored by [[Giacomo Beltrami]] in the territory that was later to become [[Minnesota]]. Missionaries of the [[Jesuit]] and [[Franciscan]] orders were active in many parts of America. Italian Jesuits founded numerous missions, schools, and two colleges in the west. [[John Nobili|Giovanni Nobili]] founded the Santa Clara College (now [[Santa Clara University]]) in 1851. The St. Ignatius Academy (now [[University of San Francisco]]) was established by [[Anthony Maraschi]] in 1855. The Italian Jesuits also laid the foundation for the [[winemaking]] industry that would later flourish in [[California]]. In the east, the Italian Franciscans founded hospitals, orphanages, schools, and St. Bonaventure College (now [[St. Bonaventure University]]), established by [[Pamfilo of Magliano|Pamfilo da Magliano]] in 1858. Las Vegas College (now [[Regis University]]) was established by a group of exiled Italian Jesuits in 1877 in [[Las Vegas]], New Mexico. The Jesuit [[Joseph Cataldo|Giuseppe Cataldo]], founded Gonzaga College (now [[Gonzaga University]]) in [[Spokane, Washington|Spokane]], Washington in 1887.

In 1801, [[Philip Trajetta]] established the nation's first conservatory of music in Boston.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://bostonhistorycollaborative.com/BostonFamilyHistory/ancestors/italian/ita_1750.html |title=BostonFamilyHistory.com – The Place to Meet Your Past |publisher=Bostonhistorycollaborative.com |access-date=August 10, 2014 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131004215733/http://bostonhistorycollaborative.com/BostonFamilyHistory/ancestors/italian/ita_1750.html |archive-date=October 4, 2013 |url-status=dead }}</ref> In 1805, Thomas Jefferson recruited a group of musicians from [[Sicily]] to form a military band, later to become the nucleus of the [[U.S. Marine Band]].<ref>http://article/italians-in-america-band-leaders-a173703 {{dead link|date=October 2017}}</ref> In 1833, [[Lorenzo Da Ponte]], formerly Mozart's librettist and a naturalized U.S. citizen, founded the first opera house in the United States, the Italian Opera House in New York City, which was the predecessor of the New York Academy of Music and of the [[Metropolitan Opera|New York Metropolitan Opera]].

[[Samuel Wilds Trotti]] of South Carolina was the first Italian American to serve in the [[United States Congress|U.S. Congress]] (a partial term, from December 17, 1842, to March 3, 1843).<ref>{{cite web|url=http://bioguide.congress.gov/scripts/biodisplay.pl?index=T000381|title=TROTTI, Samuel Wilds - Biographical Information|website=bioguide.congress.gov}}</ref> In 1849, Francesco de Casale began publishing the Italian American newspaper ''L'Eco d'Italia'' in New York, the first of many to eventually follow.

Beginning in 1863, Italian immigrants were one of the principal groups of unskilled laborers, along with the Irish, that built the [[Transcontinental railroad|Transcontinental Railroad]] west from [[Omaha, Nebraska|Omaha]], Nebraska.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.archives.gov/exhibits/treasures_of_congress/text/page15_text.html|title=The Transcontinental Railroad|website=Archives.gov|access-date=October 7, 2017}}</ref> The first [[Columbus Day]] celebration was organized by Italian Americans in New York City on October 12, 1866.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Día de la Raza – Viva Cuernavaca |url=http://universaldomainexchange.com/vivacue2/dia-de-la-raza/ |access-date=December 2, 2018 |website=universaldomainexchange.com |language=en-US}}</ref>