Click here to join Italian Genealogy Group on Facebook Chicago doesn’t boast one of the largest “Little Italies” but having spent a lot of time there, I have eaten a lot of Chicago Style Pizza, and visited some great Italian Restaurants. Quartino’s Italian Village   Little Italy, sometimes combined with University Village into one neighborhood, is on the Near West Side of Chicago, Illinois. The current boundaries of Little Italy are Ashland Avenue on the west and Interstate 90/94 on the east, the Eisenhower Expressway on the north and Roosevelt to the south. It lies between the east side of the University of Illinois at Chicago campus in the Illinois Medical District and the west side of the University of Illinois at Chicago campus. The community was once predominantly Italian immigrants but now is made up of diverse ethnic and socio-economic backgrounds as a result of immigration, urban renewal, gentrification and the growth of the resident student and faculty population of the University of Illinois at Chicago (UIC). Its Italian-American heritage is primarily evident in the Italian-American restaurants that once lined Taylor Street. The neighborhood is home to the National Italian American Sports Hall of Fame as well as the historic Roman Catholic churches Our Lady of Pompeii, Notre Dame de Chicago, and Holy Family.[1] The recent history of the neighborhood waves of urban renewal, starting with the construction of expressways in the 1950s, the development of UIC in the 1960s, the demolition of public housing in the 1990s and 2000s, and redevelopment of Maxwell Street in the 2000s. Along with these changes, housing prices in the area have risen.[2] While there are several Italian-American communities that thrive within the Chicago metropolitan area, Taylor Street, the port-of-call for Chicago’s Italian American immigrants, inherited the title of Chicago’s “Little Italy.”[3] Taylor Street’s Little Italy is part of a larger community area — Chicago’s Near West Side. Dominant among the immigrant communities that comprised the Near West Side during the mass migration of Europeans around the start of the 20th century, were Italians, Greeks and Jews. Other ethnic groups vacated the neighborhood beginning in the early 1900s, and only the Italian-American enclave remained as a vibrant community. Other ethnicities have always been present in the area known as “Little Italy.”[4] Nonetheless, the neighborhood was given its name due to the strong influence of Italians and Italian culture on the neighborhood throughout the 19th and 20th century. The Italian population, peaking during the decades of the 1950s and ’60s, began declining shortly after the decision to build the University of Illinois in the area was finalized in 1963. However, several Italian restaurants and businesses remain in the formerly prominent Taylor Street corridor.[5] Italians began arriving in Chicago in the 1850s in small numbers. By 1880, there were 1,357 Italians in the city.[6] By the 1920s, Italian cookery became one of the most popular ethnic cuisines in America, spawning many successful bakeries and restaurants—some of which prospered for generations and continue to influence the Chicago dining scene today.[5] By 1927, Italians owned 500 grocery stores, 257 restaurants, 240 pastry shops, and numerous other food related businesses that were concentrated in the Italian neighborhoods.[5] The immigration of Italians accelerated throughout the late 19th century and into the early 20th century. Chicago’s foreign-born Italian population was 16,008 in 1900 and peaked at 73,960 in 1930.[6] The largest area of settlement was the Taylor Street area, but there were also 20 other significant Italian enclaves throughout the city and suburbs. This was the home of the Genna crime family. Jane Addams labeled the community as “The Hull House Neighborhood.”[3] One of the first newspaper articles ever written about Hull House acknowledges an invitation sent to the residents of the “Hull House Neighborhood.” It begins with the salutation, “Mio Carissimo Amico,” and is signed, “Le Signorine, Jane Addams and Ellen Starr.”[7] Bethlehem-Howard Neighborhood Center Records further substantiate that, as early as the 1890s, the inner core of “The Hull House Neighborhood” was overwhelmingly Italians. If those were the demographics as early as the 1890s, the flight of other ethnic groups, which began after the start of the 20th century, suggests that virtually the entire community from the Chicago River on the east end out to the western ends of what came to be known as “Little Italy” and from Roosevelt Road on the south to the Harrison Street delta on the north — the inner core of the Hull House Neighborhood, was wall-to-wall Italian from the 1930s through the 1950s.  Wikipedia They Came to Chicago Little Italy by the Grid Festa Italia Scudiero’s Italian Beef https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TfH097ueS0Ehttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lXJktIPHYBshttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ASEltQyLUeQhttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tBGuyrvl9yIhttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Rj1M6B9f97Q

Josephine Pasquarello discusses her families arrival to Philadelphia in the late 1800’s and her book “Life’s Journey”. Josephine is the tenth child of an immigrant Italian woman who is the heroine of this book. She is a wife, mother, and grandmother, living in the suburbs of Philadelphia. She graduated from West Philly Catholic Girls’ High School in 1967. During her lifetime, she has worked in the restaurant business for 25 years, owned a house cleaning service, and owned and operated a successful store in the Philadelphia area for 13 years. In 2000, she finally retired to devote time to her family. Her hobbies include traveling, working out, cooking the way she learned from her mother, and writing. Despite the seriousness of some of the topics she is prepared to discuss, her sense of humor always shines through in her writing and speaking. It’s also clear her mother passed on her courage, her work ethic, and her compassion. Her desire is to honor her mother’s memory by sharing the character qualities, habits, and skills that made Romania Pasquarello such a remarkable woman. In the process of sharing this family saga, she imparts nuggets of wisdom that you can immediately apply to your own life and circumstances. Welcome To My Authors Page! Click the menu button at the top of your screen to view information about my book, and about myself! Enjoy! Podcast Click here to join our group on Facebook Video

Join Italian Roots and Genealogy on Facebook Bari montage very nice Francesco Nicoletti and Maria Carnevale with their grandson Giovanni My mom’s family comes from Bari and in fact her oldest brother did not migrate from there until after WWII.  My grandmother’s family was from Acquaviva delle Fonti and my grandfather’s from Toritto.  Like most people from Bari at the time, most of the men farmers and many of the women were seamstresses.  I have not been there yet, but hope to go there very soon.  My cousin is working on translating an interview that he did with his father about life in Bari in the early part of the 20th century and I hope to be able to share that soon. Bari, ancient (Latin) Barium, city, capital of Puglia(Apulia) regione,southeastern Italy. It is a port on the Adriatic Sea, northwest of Brindisi. The site may have been inhabited since 1500 bc. Greek influence was strong, and under the Romans, who called it Barium, it became an important port, the harbour being mentioned as early as 180 bc. Fishing was also significant in Roman times. A Saracen stronghold in the 9th century ad, the city became the seat of the Byzantine governor of Apulia in 885. It was captured for the Normans by Robert Guiscard in 1071. Peter the Hermit preached the First Crusade there in 1096, and a large party of crusaders embarked from its port. Razed by William the Bad of Sicily in 1156, Bari acquired new greatness under Emperor Frederick II (reigned 1220–50). An independent duchy under a succession of rulers from the 14th century, it passed from the Sforza family to the kingdom of Naples in 1558 and became part of the Italian kingdom in 1860. BariCathedral at Bari, Italy.Podollo Modern Bari consists of the old city on the peninsula dividing the old from the new harbours; the new city along the coast on either side; and the industrial area inland. The chief features of historic interest are in the old city, notably the 12th-century Romanesque cathedral; the Norman castle, rebuilt by Frederick II and later extended; and the Basilica of San Nicola, founded in 1087 to house the relics of St. Nicholas, the patron saint of Bari. The seat of an archbishop and of a university (founded 1924), the city has a provincial picture gallery and archaeological museum. The annual Fiera del Levante, an Occidental-Oriental trade fair, has been held since 1930. On the east coast railway from Milan and Bologna to Brindisi, Bari has international air services from nearby Palese airport and steamer services to Adriatic ports, the Black Sea, and the Mediterranean. Bari is connected by motorway to other Adriatic cities and to Naples on Italy’s western coast. The city is an agricultural centre; its industries include food processing, petroleum refining, textile milling, printing, and the production of tobacco, sulfide, building materials, machinery, aluminum, and ironwork. A busy centre for sea trade with the Balkans and the Middle East, the Porto Nuovo exports wine, olive oil, and almonds. Pop. (2006 est.) mun., 326,915. This article was most recently revised and updated by Amy Tikkanen, Corrections Manager.  Citation InformationArticle Title:BariWebsite Name:Encyclopaedia BritannicaPublisher:Encyclopaedia Britannica, Inc.Date Published:28 March 2016URL:https://www.britannica.com/place/Bari-ItalyAccess Date:February 27, 2019 Previous Next Link to Torrito My family names from Toritto include, Nicoletti, Mirra, Chiarappa, Chieco, LoRusso, Lamandoloro, Florio, Urgenti, Toto Link to Acquaviva Delle Fonti My family names from Acquaviva Delle Fonti include, Nicoletti, Carnevale, Solazzo, Pietroforte, Bruno, Barbieri, Sannicandro, Martone  

During my research on the history of Italian Surnames, I came across this cool list of Fifty Italian Surname Meanings.  See if your surname is on the list.  You can also search our site for Gallo, Ricci, Bruno, Ferrari, Bianchi, Conti, Gallo, Greco, Russo, Esposito, Romano and Columbo for more information on the top 12 Italian Surnames. There are more than 350,000 Surnames in Italy, more than any other country.  So don’t be surprised if your name is not on the list. What is the meaning of my Italian last name?  See if you are on this list of 50 most popular. Click Here To Join Our Facebook Group 1. Vitali:Italian last name which means “Life”. 2. Ferrari: Italian name which means “Blacksmith”. 3. Angelo:An Italian masculine given name that means “Angel”. 4. Amato:A family name of Italian origin that means “Beloved” or “Dear one”. 5. Venturi:Italian last name which means “Good luck”. 6. Tedesco:Italian last name which means “German”. 7. Riva:Italian last name which means “Someone who lived by a wharf in a port or on a bank or a river”. 8. Zappa:Italian last name which means “Farmer”. 9. Guerriero:The name is derived from the word “Guerre” which means “War”. 10. Ricci:Italian last name which means “Curly.” 11. Fontana:Italian last name which means “Someone who lived near a spring”. 12. Zunino:Italian last name which means “A person from northern Italy”. 13. Barone:Italian last name which means “Free man”. 14. Nicastro:Italian last name which means “New camp”. 15. Trevisan:Italian last name which means “Alchemist”. 16.Bruno:Italian last name which means “Brown”. 17. Favero:Italian last name which means “Craftsman”. 18. Quattrocchi:From the Italian Quattro meaning “Four”, and “Occhi” meaning “Eyes”. 19. Conti:Italian last name which means “Order” or “Control”. 20. Schiavone:Italian last name which means “Slavs”. 21. Rana:Italian last name which means “Frog”. 22. Uberti:Italian last name which means “Manufacturer”. 23. Pedrotti:Italian name derived from “Rock”. 24. Carbone:Italian for a person with dark features, a name that means “Coal”. 25. Pecora:It refers to someone from Southern Italy” 26.Desantis:Italian last name which means “Holy”. 27. Nicotera:Italian last name which means “Miracle of victory”. 28. Paternoster:Derived from the Latin “Pater Noster” that means “Our father”. 29. Ferrari:Italian last name which means “Blacksmith”. 30. Milano:It refers to someone who is from “Milan”. 31.Luciano:Italian name derived from Latin”s Lucianus meaning “Light”. 32. Udine:It means “A city in northeastern Italy”. 33. Viola:Italian last name which means “Violet”. 34. Bianchi:Italian last name which means “White”. 35. Colombo:Italian last name which means “Dove or Dove keeper”. 36.Vestri:A diminutive form of Silvestro”. 37. Messana:It means “From the Ancient Italian island of Sicily”. 38. Orlando:From Italian origin, there is an Italian former football player who holds the surname. 39. Farina:The Italian word for “Flour”. 40.Russo:Italian name which means “Nobility”. 41. Napolitano:Italian name used to refer to someone who is from Napoli (Naples)”. 42. Tocci:An Italian personal name”. 43. Siciliano:Derived from Sicilia”. 44. Evangelista:The Italian form of “Evangelist”. 45. Lambo:Italian last name which means “Realm”. 46. Fiore:Italian last name which means “Flower”. 47. Orsini:Italian last name which means “Bear like or strong”. 48. Vinci:It means “of Vinci”. 49. Notaro:From Southern Italy, an occupational name for “A clerk”. 50.Longo:Italian last name which means “Tall”. Here’s another  link to Italian last names  

Mark D’Ambrosi talks about his roots in San Valentino Torio and the website that he created for families from the town. www.sanvalentinotoriofamilies.com Podcast Click here to join our group on Facebook Video