Editing Italian Americans (section)

===New York City===
{{Main|Italian Americans in New York City}}
[[File:Littleitaly worldcup.JPG|right|thumb|upright=0.9|Little Italy in Manhattan after [[Italy national football team|Italy]] won the [[2006 FIFA World Cup]]]]

New York City is home to the largest Italian-American population in the country and the second-largest Italian population outside of Italy. Several Little Italy enclaves exist in [[New York City]], including [[Little Italy, Manhattan]]; the [[Lower East Side]] in general; [[Italian Harlem]], [[Morris Park, Bronx|Morris Park]], [[Belmont, Bronx|Belmont]], [[Bensonhurst, Brooklyn|Bensonhurst]], [[Howard Beach, Queens|Howard Beach]], [[Ozone Park]], [[Carroll Gardens]], [[Greenwich Village]], [[Middle Village, Queens|Middle Village]], [[Williamsburg, Brooklyn#Italian-American community and Our Lady of Mount Carmel|Italian Williamsburg]], [[Bay Ridge]], and the [[South Shore, Staten Island|South Shore]] of [[Staten Island]]. Historically, Little Italy on Mulberry Street in Manhattan extends as far south as Canal Street, as far north as [[Bleecker Street|Bleecker]], as far west as [[Lafayette Street|Lafayette]] and as far east as the [[Bowery]].<ref name="lifeinitaly.com"/> The neighborhood was once known for its large population of Italians.<ref name="lifeinitaly.com">{{cite web|url=http://www.lifeinitaly.com/heritage/little-italy.asp |title=Little Italy &#124; Italy |publisher=Lifeinitaly.com |access-date=January 16, 2013}}</ref> Today, it consists of Italian stores and restaurants.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.littleitalynyc.com/ |title=The Official Website for New York City's Little Italy District |publisher=Little Italy NYC |access-date=January 16, 2013 |archive-date=September 4, 2017 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170904140547/http://www.littleitalynyc.com/ }}</ref>  The Italian immigrants congregated along [[Mulberry Street (Manhattan)|Mulberry Street]] in Manhattan's ''Little Italy'' to celebrate [[San Gennaro]] with a large street fair, lasting 11 days, that takes place every September.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.italian-link.com/pages/littleitalynewyork.shtml |title=Little Italy New York City |publisher=Italian-link.com |access-date=January 16, 2013}}</ref> Today, much of the neighborhood has been absorbed and engulfed by [[Chinatown, Manhattan|Chinatown]], as immigrants from China moved to the area.

[[Arthur Avenue]] in the [[Belmont, Bronx|Belmont]] section of New York City's northernmost [[borough (New York City)|borough]], [[The Bronx]], is one of the many neighborhoods considered the Bronx's "Little Italy", with [[Morris Park, Bronx|Morris Park]], [[Pelham Bay]], [[Throggs Neck]], and other Bronx neighborhoods also serving as centers of Italian-American culture.

Bensonhurst used to be heavily Italian-American, and it used to be considered the main "Little Italy" of Brooklyn. Since the late 1990s, most Italians have moved to Staten Island. The Italian-speaking community remains over 20,000 strong, according to the [[United States Census, 2000|census of 2000]]. However, the Italian-speaking community is becoming "increasingly elderly and isolated, with the small, tight-knit enclaves they built around the city slowly disappearing as they give way to demographic changes".<ref>{{cite news |last=Santos |first=Fernanda |title=For Italians in Brooklyn, Voices on Streets Have Changed |newspaper=[[The New York Times]] |date=January 6, 2009 |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2009/01/07/nyregion/07italians.html |access-date=August 22, 2009}}</ref> Its main thoroughfare, 18th Avenue (also known as Cristoforo Colombo Boulevard) between roughly 60th Street and Shore Parkway, is lined with predominantly small, Italian family-owned businesses—many of which have remained in the same family for several generations. 86th Street is another popular local thoroughfare, lined by the arches of the elevated BMT West End Subway Line. The 18th Avenue Station was popularized in opening credits of ''[[Welcome Back, Kotter]]''. Rosebank in [[Staten Island]] was another one of NYC's main areas of Italian immigrants since the 1880s, and their descendants have continued as its predominant ethnic group, exemplified by the location of the [[Garibaldi Memorial]] in the community. In recent years, the town has experienced an influx of other ethnic groups, including Eastern Europeans, various Latin nationalities as well as Asians, particularly from the Philippines. Today, the South Shore of Staten Island is the most heavily populated Italian area in the City of New York.  Over 95% of the South Shore is Italian. The neighborhoods of the South Shore with large percentages of Italians are Huguenot, Annadale, Eltingville, and Tottenville. Howard Beach in the Queens is also home to a large Italian population.<ref name="dailynews-2002-09-22">{{cite news|title={{-'}}Small town' has big pride - & image woes: The Howard Beach story |url=http://www.nydailynews.com/archives/ny_local/2002/09/22/2002-09-22__small_town__has_big_pride_-.html |location=New York |work=[[Daily News (New York)|Daily News]] |first=Jonathan |last=Lemire |date=September 22, 2002 |access-date=January 17, 2010 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110605022307/http://www.nydailynews.com/archives/ny_local/2002/09/22/2002-09-22__small_town__has_big_pride_-.html |archive-date=June 5, 2011 }}</ref>

During the beginning of the Cold War, immigration into the United States from Italy was almost impossible. Americas were frightened that these immigrants could be terrorists, thus preventing Italians from gaining citizenship. As the Cold War continued, organization groups such as the Italian American Organization and the American Committee on Italian Migration (ACIM) started to form. They created vast efforts to provide assistance and aid to Italian immigrants coming into the United States. Throughout the Cold War, these organizations increased rapidly with many American Italian members as well as many new coming Italians. ACIM also took a leading role in directing the efforts of other Italian American and Catholic organizations that helped contribute to Italian immigration. These organizations provided new migrants with housing, clothing, access to job interviews, and education for children. Immediately after the Cold War period, Italian Americans further consolidated and solidified their status as members of the American mainstream.<ref>Battisti, Danielle. "The American Committee on Italian Migration, Anti-Communism, and Immigration Reform." Leatherby Libraries, Board of Trustees of the University of Illinois Press, 2012.</ref>