New York City Italian Families

Sorrentino Family

Those of us that are baby boomers, and grew up to Italian families in the US, probably had some of the best times. I was blessed by having two great New York City Italian families. I always wanted to write a book about growing up, but now the blogging is so much better and you get instant feedback that you would not get in a book. My plan is to post more and more, especially photos and videos.

Mom’s family, the Nicoletti’s, were originally from Bari. As most families from there, they were mostly farmers. Occasionally, as seamstress, or a cart driver show up in the records. Almost every Sunday we were at my grandmother’s, but the really best days were Mother’s day and her birthday . Virtually the whole family would show up for a super barbecue. There were 9 sons and daughters, 23 cousins and over 30 second cousins. I think that we can all agree that the best part of the big Italian party was seeing our non-Italian friends marvel at the food. We had sausage and peppers and eggplant parmigiana at the beach!

My Dad’s family was from Naples. His father, came from a family of mostly lawyers, while his mom came from Noble Naples families Piromallo and Caracciolo. Here are some of the Crests from my grandmother’s ancestors. I don’t remember too much about her, but she was a very stately woman. My grandfather passed away when I was only 2 months old, so I have no knowledge of him, other than he and his brother owned a bridal crown business.

Here’s a great article on New York City Italian Families and Immigration from “Walks of New York”.

My dad was a photographer for the NY Daily News, which made my brother, sister and I minor celebrities when we were growing up in College Point Queens. My friends would always scan the pages for his photos, and if he had the front page or the centerfold, it was a big deal. St. Fidelis School was filled with Irish, Italian and German kids for the most part, College Point was a big German Town at the end of century, until the Irish and Italians started moving in the 50’s and 60’s. Dad is the first guy on the right.