EXAMINING PATTERNS OF ITALIAN IMMIGRATION TO ...

chose the same agents, but instructed them on their new positions and professional duties.
Still, these representatives of navigation companies were able to take advantage of the
emigrants in many ways. In fact, it took a while before the new laws started to work properly
and the agents remained the main referees for people to get information and to speed up the
process of getting passports.
The navigation companies both favored and took advantage of the big boom in
emigration. The shift from sail to steam navigation considerably shortened the duration of
travels and allowed a considerable decrease in the price of tickets. For example, in 1902 the
Societa’ di Navigazione Generale Italiana Florio and Rubattino had nine steamships that were
able to reach New York from Genoa in 16 days, and 110 vessels which made the same trip in
one month. A new market was ready to pay for these services. European companies with
headquarters in sea cities like Palermo, Naples, Genoa, and Marseilles flourished. In 1905
there were six navigation companies - Navigazione Generale Italiana with fourteen ships, La
Veloce with thirteen ships, La Patria with six ships, Anglo-Italiana with four ships, Hamburg-
Amerika Linie with four ships, Giuseppe Fornari with five ships- travelling from the Italian
ports of Genoa, Naples, and Palermo to New York. The Compagnie Générale Transatlantique,
a French company with ships travelling from Havre to New York, was the only foreign one
authorized to sell tickets in Northern Italy through its representatives residing in Italy. The
prices of the tickets sold by these companies ranged from a minimum of 143 to a maximum of
190 liras. People leaving from Havre had to add the cost of the train ticket from Italy, 40-60
liras according to the city of departure. 9
1.4 Italian emigration to the United States
From 1857 to 1869 the total Italian emigration to the U.S. never exceeded one
thousand per year. Starting in 1870 it steadily increased, but it stayed within five thousand per
year until 1879. In 1880 the number jumped to reach about 12,000 Italian emigrants. 10
According to the 1880 census there were 44,000 Italians in the U.S.
9 Noli massimi per il trasporto degli emigranti. In Bollettino dell’Emigrazione Vol. 9 (1905), pp. 56-57.
10 Beccherini, Francesco. Il Fenomeno dell’Emigrazione negli Stati Uniti. Sansepolcro: Tipografia
Boncompagni, 1906. Beccherini was a priest at the church of Saint Francis in Detroit and was asked by
Monsignor Scalabrini, Vescovo of Piacenza and founder of the Congregation of the Missioners of San Carlo for
the Italian Emigrants to write a report.
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