In most peoples’ minds, the state of Connecticut has very WASPy (White Anglo Saxon Protestant) associations: Yale University; “lace-curtain” wealthy families; and a Yankee in King Arthur’s Court (courtesy of Mark Twain, who once lived in Hartford).
But did you know that, per capita and based on population, it is a state with the highest concentration of Italian Americans, even more so than in big, bad New York? As Ripley used to say, “Believe it or not!”
Though there are mentions in documents of Italian musicians during Civil War times, the state’s number of Italians didn’t really explode until about 30 years later, when immigrants from Abruzzo, Naples, Sicily, and the outskirts of Rome stopped at Ellis Island but then kept on going until they stopped in Connecticut, which abuts the Long Island Sound.
For such a small state – only nearby Rhode Island, another state with a huge Italian population, is smaller – Connecticut has produced some profound role models, from Ella Grasso, the first American woman elected on her own as governor, to today’s Ray Dalio, the billionaire investment guru whose firm, Bridgewater (in Westport, CT), is world-renowned.
And this just in, courtesy of a recent email shared by my colleague, Frank Di Piero: Connecticut also boasts the first female mayor in the state, Ann Uccello, who recently celebrated her 100th birthday last month (May 19th). Wow!
Ramon Navarro) earns a scholarship to Yale in Huddle (1932)
A few years ago, I also learned about a long-forgotten film called Huddle (1932). It’s about a working-class Italian kid from Gary, Indiana (played by Ramon Navarro) who gets a scholarship to Yale and succeeds despite the prejudice he endures. I’ve yet to find a copy of the film, but it certainly validates the Italian American experience in the state.
Another thing which does, of course, is food-related: New Haven-style pizza. Two of America’s most famous pizzerias, literally down the block from each other (and run by cousins) are Frank Pepe’s and Sally’s Apizz, both Connecticut institutions. The secret to their success? Allegedly it’s the type of water used in the dough, which makes the flat pies fresher and tastier. I’ve sample both and can honestly declare the unofficial pizza war “a tie!”
The pizzerias are located around the block from Wooster Square Park, the city’s “Little Italy” area. The one sadness to relate about Italians in Connecticut is that, despite their numbers, they recently lost their legal fight to have the community’s beloved Columbus statue returned to its rightful pedestal (it was removed during the 2020 protests).
In mid-June, 2022, City Hall declared a victory and is now proceeding full-steam to replace the Admiral of the Ocean Sea with another statue – that of a poor, bedraggled Italian immigrant family, ready for their American Dream.
What seems to be lost on the City’s fathers/mothers is that Columbus’s voyage is what made the “American Dream” possible for millions of immigrants, Italian or otherwise. What they see as a tribute to “all Italians in Connecticut” is actually a not-so-subtle form of visual diminuendo (the Italian musical word from the Latin, diminuendum, meaning “to break into small pieces or diminish”). Basically, America has turned all Italians into low-level peasants again.
But no matter: Connecticut also produced the famed operatic soprano Rosa Ponselle, whose voice proved that, no matter how low the Italians started there, they continued to soar ever upward, then and now. -BDC
that’s all so very impressive, especially Rosa Ponselle!….as a fyi. San Jose also had its Diva, Irene Boitano Dalis…who made it at the Met then came home to retire…and founded Opera San Jose a repertoire company where young students from all over the country can cut their teeth on operatic roles without having to go to the smaller houses in Europe to train……it’s a very unique national institution……one observation: Italian Americans don’t do retirement well………
Awesome to know. Thanks for sharing!
As for Italian Americans and retirement: Sure, they go to Bellagio—the one in Vegas, not in Italy! I once asked a retired couple why. Their actual reply: “Too far to fly.”
Not far enough for everyone else EXCEPT Italian Americans. When I meet Americans in Italy, 90% of the time, they are Anglo, Jewish, Irish, etc. Very rarely are they Italic.
Rosa Ponselle was born Rosa Ponzillo. She was my great aunt.
I always thought that based on per capita and population that Rhode Island had the highest
concentration of Italian Americans.
It did. But before I left for CT, I contacted Carla Simonini, a Rhode Island native who now runs the Italian American Studies Program at Loyola University in Chicago.
She’s the one who told me that CT eked out Rhode Island as of the last census figures, though she was about to leave for summer vacation and couldn’t dig up the stats.
I trust her judgment.
Luigi Del Bianco. Mt Rushmore head sculptor had a studio in Stamford Ct, my hometown
A lot of Italians from Provincia di Frosinone settled there.
How do you talk about Yale and Italians without A. Bartlett Giamatti and Carm Cozza?
Great reminders!
A) I considered Giamatti but he was a native of Boston, MA, not CT; still, he was quite a role model, even though his tenure at Yale was short.
Carm Cozza: Simple ignorance. I had to look him up again. Had no idea he was one of that college’s most-winningest coaches. Yet another great subject for a movie.
It is funny how Anglos like to dismiss Italian immigrants as low-level peasants. Even Italian last names alone carry the burden on Western civilization. I did not know Ann Uccello before reading this article. But her name alone reminded me of Paolo Uccello, the inventor of perspective (multi-dimensions) drawing in the 1400s.
I hadn’t heard about Uccello, either. And note: She was a Republican in a very heavily Democratic city and state (Hartford and Connecticut).
Governor Ella Grasso was a Democrat. There was talk of Grasso being selected as a future VP. Alas, she succumbed to cancer in 1980 at the age of only 61.
Can you imagine? Our potential first female VP–and she spoke fluent Italian!