L'Italo-Americano

THURSDAY, JANUARY 11, 2024 www.italoamericano.org 30 L'Italo-Americano T he great wave of I t a l i a n i m m i - g r a n t s t o t h e U n i t e d S t a t e s b e g a n i n t h e 1880s and lasted until 1920. More than four million Ital- ians made the journey, with about 75 percent settling in cities on the East Coast. A s m a l l c o n t i n g e n t w o r k e d t h e i r w a y t o t h e P a c i f i c N o r t h w e s t . O f t e n unskilled or unable to speak t h e l a n g u a g e , t h e y t o o k w h a t e v e r j o b s t h e y c o u l d find – from digging ditches and pouring cement to min- ing coal and laying railroad tracks. To make the transi- tion easier, they settled in communities with other Ital- ians from their home town or region. Here they could speak their native dialect, find foods that looked recog- nizable, and access a net- w o r k o f a m i c i t o s e c u r e housing or a job. B y 1 9 1 0 , W a s h i n g t o n state was home to less than one percent of Italians living in America. Seattle had the state's largest population — nearly 3,500 Italians. Ore- g o n a n d I d a h o a c c e p t e d their share of Italian immi- grants, as well, primarily in logging and mining commu- nities. Today, there are more than 300,000 Italian Ameri- cans in Washington, Oregon, and Idaho. A new book, Italians in the Pacific Northwest, c e l e b r a t e s t h e s t o r i e s o f these individuals and their many contributions. Pub- lished by Arcadia Publishing a s p a r t o f t h e I m a g e s o f America imprint, the book draws on archival and family photographs, personal sto- ries and memorabilia, and f o c u s e s o n I t a l i a n i m m i - grants who arrived in Wash- ington, Oregon, and Idaho between 1880 and 1950. The book's author, Cana- dian-born Tessa Floreano, w a s i n s p i r e d b y h e r o w n family history. Her father was born in San Daniele del Friuli in Italy's northeastern region of Friuli-Venezia Giu- l i a . " M y f a t h e r m o v e d t o Toronto in the 1950s and t h e n l a t e r t o V a n c o u v e r , which is where I consider home," she said. "He was around 20 years old and had decided that life in Italy at that time would not provide him with the future he want- ed. After living in Canada for s i x y e a r s , h e h a d e a r n e d enough money to go back to Italy where a matchmaker s e t h i m u p w i t h a l o c a l woman. This is how he met my mother." When her father died in 2009, Floreano realized that a d o o r t o h e r p a s t h a d closed. Her father was no longer there to answer her questions or tell the stories she loved to hear. "That set me on a path," she said. "I started researching my par- ents and our family history. I was able to trace my father's family back to 1710 and my mother's back to 1640 – and I'm not done yet!" Her paternal grandmoth- er and her father's siblings also moved to North Ameri- ca but her mother's family remained in Italy. "I've spent a portion of each of the last ten years visiting my moth- er's family in Italy," she said. "With the help of my rela- tives, I accumulated quite a bit of research. " H e r p a r e n t s ' f i r s t l a n - guage was Friulan, which Floreano also speaks. "Friu- lan is an ancient dialect and one of the three remaining protected languages in Italy; the other two are Sardinian and Sicilian. When I visit my cousins in northern Italy, people are so surprised that I can speak Friulan." Floreano was attracted to writing at an early age. In the ninth grade, she entered a contest to write a romance novella; her entry received an honorable mention in a national Canadian women's m a g a z i n e . U n s u r e a b o u t writing full-time, she earned a business degree and spent about 10 years in the invest- ment industry in Vancouver, Canada. On an online dating site, she met an American who would later become her husband. After their mar- riage in 1999, she moved to Seattle and started a career as a technical writer. Her first published book was a work of historical fic- t i o n . C a l l e d S l a i n O v e r Spumoni, it is set in 1920s Grado, a northern Italian beach town, and combines murder, romance and gelato. Continuing with the food connection, one of Flore- ano's short stories Sfogli- a t e l l e a p p e a r e d i n t h e anthology, The Bread Also Rises, published by the Writ- ers Cooperative of the Pacif- ic Northwest. Each story in the collection is followed by a tasty recipe for a food or drink mentioned in the nar- rative. I t a l i a n s i n t h e P a c i f i c Northwest is outside the fic- t i o n a l g e n r e b u t i n s t e a d speaks to Floreano's interest in family and community history. "Thanks to all the research I had done, I felt I could address this subject accurately and I was pas- sionate about it," she said. " A n d t h e s t o r y o f I t a l i a n immigrants is my story as well. I myself was not born in the US but moved here later in life." In July 2022, she submit- ted a proposal to Arcadia P u b l i s h i n g o u t l i n i n g h e r book concept. The publisher responded quickly and then it was off to the races. Flore- a n o h a d t o c o m p l e t e h e r research, write the text, find a n d s c a n p h o t o s – m a n y previously unpublished – and organize the material into an interesting and cohe- s i v e w h o l e . A c o m p l e t e d d r a f t w a s d u e i n M a r c h 2023. "I spent 50 to 60 hours a week on this project," said F l o r e a n o . " I t r a v e l e d , I scanned photos, I looked through boxes of documents and research materials, and I interviewed Italian Ameri- cans in person, on the phone and virtually." The 128-page book con- tains 220 photos and high- lights some 81 individuals. M a n y o f t h e I t a l i a n s f e a - tured started small family- o w n e d b u s i n e s s e s t h a t evolved into successful 21st- c e n t u r y b r a n d s , s u c h a s Oberto Sausage and DeLau- renti Food & Wine. Other individuals made contribu- tions to the arts, science, medicine or agriculture. This fall, Floreano trav- eled throughout the tristate area on a book tour, visiting local Italian clubs, book- s t o r e s a n d l i b r a r i e s . T h e book has been short-listed for the Nellie Bly Award for journalistic nonfiction as part of the Chanticleer Inter- national Book Awards. A pictorial look at Italians in the Pacific Northwest RITA CIPALLA Author Tessa Floreano launches her new book "Italians in the Pacific Northwest" in September at Casa Italiana in Burien, Wash. (Photo: Judy Bailey) SEATTLE ITALIAN COMMUNITY

• Cover