Il Viaggio (Paperback) (ISBN-13: 9798995821205)

Il Viaggio is the story of those who came, who mostly thrived but often suffered. It is the story of the country that received them, and the country let them go. While the subject matter is Italian immigrants, it is the story of millions of others who created a great immigrant nation. It is a true story of "e pluribus unum." Il Viaggio is a collection of anecdotes and musings that chronicle the arduous journey to becoming American. Some tell of little-known or forgotten events. Others document people and lives that would be forever lost as families move further from their Italian heritage. It is a love letter to the unsung heroes of the Italian Diaspora-those who left the land they loved in search of a better life, those who died in America's coal mines and factories, and those who fought and died for their new homeland, some on the battlefield of their ancestors.

It pulls no punches in identifying the sources and reasons for America's often ungracious treatment of its immigrants. It also examines the role of Italy's constitutional monarchy that caused the degradation and poverty of its South and the Italian Diaspora. And while Il Viaggio examines topics of prejudice and exclusion, it also honors goodness, pride, beauty, and love, which fill many of its pages.

Because Il Viaggio is the journey of many Italian Americans, it is heavily footnoted to encourage others to trace their own family's experience and to actively preserve and share it with their children or grandchildren.