Italian Emigration: A Tale of Hardship By Trafford R. Cole Italians, possibly more than any other people, have emigrated to all parts of the world, and in particular to North and South America. For example, those of Italian origin make up over seventeen million descendants in the United States, and is the fifth largest ethnic group. In Argentina they make up over 50% of the population. One can also find large communities of Italians in most countries of Europe, North Africa and Australia. There are several reasons that explain this emigration to other countries. In part is the fact that they have always been explorers curious about other cultures and looking for economic opportunities in other countries. We can remember famous explorers like Marco Polo, Christopher Colombus, Amerigo Vespucci and many others that discovered new countries and opened up new markets. Another reason is the fact that many Italians were in high demand during the 1800’s working in mines as they were particularly skilled in drilling and shoring up the tunnels in the coal mines of many countries and doing the same for the railroads that were being built throughout Europe. However, the main reason for the massive emigration that took place from about 1850 up through World War I was economic need. This is easy to understand if one considers the geography of Italy. Italy has a land surface comparable to Arizona, or one thirtieth that of the United States with a present population of 65,000,000 inhabitants. Only about one third of the land surface is suitable for agriculture as there are two major mountain ranges that occupy most of the land surface, the Alps that run east to West in the North and the Apennine Mountains that run from North to South for most of the peninsula. Therefore, in the past when the survival and prosperity of the people depended almost exclusively on agriculture there was not enough land to support the growing population of the 1800s due to better hygiene and living conditions and many were required to emigrate. To help understand the phenomenon of Italian emigration, an examination is made of the living conditions during the 1800’s of one valley in the Alps called the Val di Non whose population was decimated in this period due to emigration. If one ventures into the southern part of South Tyrol in the province of Trento situated in the Brenta Mountain range of the Alps one comes upon a spacious valley of scattered and quaint villages of old stone houses and a series of picturesque castles that dot the countryside. There is a deep blue lake that divides the valley and reflects the surrounding mountains. Particularly if one arrives at the beginning of May he or she will find the whole valley in blossom with the delicate white and pink flowers of the apple and pear trees. In fact, the entire valley is covered by hundreds of apple orchards that stretch up the mountainsides and down to the edge of the lake in the middle of the valley. This fairyland of splendor is the Val di Non. Up until 1918 this valley was part of South Tyrol in the Austrian Hungarian Empire but with a heavy Italian influence. The local dialect is not German but of Italian influence. After WWI this area became part of Italy and today is one of the most prosperous valleys in Italy. During the Winter there is a thriving ski industry and during the rest of the year besides the dairy farms, the economy is boosted by the top quality golden delicious apples that are exported throughout Italy and the rest of Europe. It is hard to imagine that this beautiful and prosperous valley could have ever known famine and hardship, but if one stops and talks to the inhabitants, particularly the old timers another story emerges. If one talks to the elderly men and women as they sit on their porches and contemplate the mountains, the stone walls and the wood shingled roofs they all have a tale to relate about their parents, relatives or friends who had to leave the valley and emigrate to the United States or Brazil. By examining the history of the valley and the genealogy of the families the mystery is uncovered. Whereas today the economy revolves around the apple orchards, for many centuries this valley and many others along the Alpen foothills were centers for the silk industry. Whereas today apple trees abound at one time the valley and the surrounding slopes were covered by mulberry bushes. The berries of the mulberry trees are the main stable of the silk worm that was introduced into the area after the travels of Marco Polo to China in the 16th century. The species was the large yellow variety that yields abundant and top quality silk, There were also weaving mills in each village to wash, twill and weave the silk which was then exported throughout Italy the Austrian-Hungarian Empire. The silk industry was the major money crop for the valley and the basis for its prosperity, but there were other sources of livelihood that contributed to the economy. One of these was the vineyards that occupied the lower slopes of the mountains which produced a high quality wine. This too was exported to cities in the valleys of Northern Italy. The local agriculture consisted of beans, barley, rye and cabbage but the main staple of for survival was potatoes. Also, each family had rights to a portion of the timber from the mountains for fuel and personal use and carpentry, and many had their own pastures where they raised dairy cows or pigs. Even though this was a prosperous valley, for many families the agriculture was not sufficient for survival and many left the valley during the winter months to seek employment in the major cities of Italy. The most common vocation was that of “Spazzacamino” or chimney sweepers. The men would leave their homes after the harvest each fall with their long brooms over their shoulders, followed by apprentices (usually boys of eight or nine years of age, often their own children or other boys of the valley). These men would travel from one village to another stopping at each house to offer their services. This was often the work of the young boys who could fit in the chimney place. Although most often they traveled just during the winter months no further than the cities of Trento or Verona, some of these traveled as far as Florence and Rome and were away for more than a year. Another common occupation was that of “arrotino” or knife-grinder, who would likewise travel from town to town to offer their services. They usually had a whetting stone mounted on a hand cart that they pushed as they traveled or with a cart where they also sold knives, scissors, scythes and other agricultural instruments. Other still were skilled carpenters that were readily employed in making furniture, doors and bridges in the more populous centers in Italy. As railroad construction began throughout Europe in the mid 1800’s many began a seasonal emigration to other countries in Europe to build bridges, tiers and supports for the railroads. All these activities served to supplement the meager resources of the valley. This emigration however, was limited to male members of the family and was seasonal or of brief duration. So life in the Val di Non was difficult as it was throughout Italy and Europe, but in many ways it was a prosperous valley, then disaster struck. The first of a series of events that adversely affected the valley was the occupation of the valley by an Italian Militia in 1848 which proclaimed an independent government. The Austrian government immediately suppressed this movement, but it caused considerable damage to the villages and the economy. Then in 1855 a cholera epidemic swept the valley killing off one seventh of the population in one week. Then, during the 1850’s three different diseases devastated, one after another, the three major cultivations of the valley. First a “potato gangrene” similar to that in Ireland destroyed the entire potato crop. At the same time the entire Alpine area was infected by a blight that rotted the mulberry seeds and young bushes and prevented further seeding of the mulberry bushes and within thirty years destroyed the silk industry in the area. In 1847 the valley 497,000 pounds of silk and there were 105 weaving mills. By 1892 this was reduced to 97,700 pounds, and just 22 mills. Finally, if this weren’t enough the vineyards too were struck with a similar blight and in the same period the production of wine went from 11,000 gallons of wine to just 1,300 gallons. These changes did not occur all at once but it did not take too long for their effects to be felt on the local economy, and what was once a prosperous valley no longer could support the present population. Not only, but during the second half of the 1800s there was a considerable increase in the population mostly due to a drastic decrease in the infant mortality rate due to better medical practices. By 1870 there started a steady and massive emigration from the valley. The final crack came in 1882 and 1885 when abundant rains caused floods and mudslides that destroyed most of the remaining vineyards and mulberry orchards. Many of the families lost their lands and homes to creditors and all went hungry. The parish priests often made note of how all the villagers would contribute to the parish to form soup lines for the very poor so that no one would die of starvation, but in any case these were grim years. The Austrian government aided some emigration to the Bosnia region, but soon most emigration was directed to the Americas. During the 1870s and 1880s thousands from this one area, emigrated to South America and in particular to Brazil. In Brazil large tracts of fertile farmland by the government to whomever would come and cultivate the land; so numerous cooperatives were formed from the Trento region to go and open up this new land. In the Santa Caterina region of Brazil entire towns and cities were founded and built by these emigrants and named after towns from their homeland: New Trento, Martignano, Mattarello etc. To give an example of the extent of the migration, at Nanno a small village in the Val di Non that had a population of about 800 inhabitants before 1870, in just one day in 1877, sixty-four villagers emigrated in just one day. Within ten years three fourths of the village had moved to Brazil. By the 1890’s Brazil and Argentina no longer gave away land concessions and began to restrict immigration, so the United States became the new Mecca for those seeking a new life and a new land. Almost all the emigrants from this valley who came to the U.S. at the turn of the century became miners in the coal mines of Pennsylvania, and the silver and gold mines of Colorado and Nevada. There was no history of mining in the Val di Non, and in fact, most of them were hired not as miners but rather as skilled carpenters that created the scaffolding and supports for the tunnels and galleries. This still meant working up to fourteen hours a day underground in terrible living conditions and with the danger of mudslides, and cave-ins and just accidents. The death records of the parishes of the Val di Non are full of annotations, often written in the margins of villagers who had emigrated and died in the mines of Rock Springs, Wyoming or Leadville, Colorado. Usually a group of men would leave the valley to find work in America in the mines or for the railroad, drawn on by others who had gone before. If they had success they would then send money for their wives and children to come and join them. The port of entry for almost all the Italians in this period was New York. About four million Italians came through Ellis Island between 1890 and 1914. To make this trip was not easy. The families walked or took the slow trains from Trento to the Genova port or passed over the Alps and took the boats from Le Havre port in France. The sea passage was equally arduous where they were exposed to the elements and possible ship wrecks. Once in New York they still had the long trip by train or wagon to the mining camps in the Rocky Mountains where most of them found employment. There most of them lived in tents and very few spoke any English. It is said that in many of the mining camps in the area the only language spoken was the Trentino dialect since all the workers came from the same area. Most of these families stayed in the Rocky Mountain area that so reminded them of the valleys of the Alps from where they originated, and established their families. They worked hard, they built towns and they became part of the culture and economy of the United States. Today many Americans can attribute their own success to the hard work and sacrifice of these emigrants who were their parents, grandparents or great-grandparents. True genealogy is not just finding names and dates but understanding family history. Understanding why your grandparents or their parents left their home and culture to venture to a New World. Understanding what life was like in Italy where they originated, their customs, traditions and history. Hopefully the experience of those who came from this one small mountain valley in Northern Italy can help others better understand the background and heritage of their own ancestors, and inspire a desire to know more about them.
Posted on: Thu, 26 Sep 2013 03:04:34 +0000
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