EXAMINING PATTERNS OF ITALIAN IMMIGRATION TO ...

Emilia Romagna Parma 3 3
(0.06%)
Lazio
Roma 1
2
Frosinone 1
(0.04%)
Sicilia Messina 2 2
(0.04%)
Umbria Perugia 1 1
(0.02%)
Basilicata Potenza 1 1
(0.02%)
Abruzzo L’Aquila 1 1
(0.02%)
TOTAL 4,384
The places of origin increased in variety, accompanying the large increase in the size
of the community. The regions represented are fifteen. Compared to 1910, Marche and
Liguria do not appear anymore, the new ones are Valle d’Aosta, Lazio, Umbria, Molise,
Calabria, Sicilia, Sardegna, and Basilicata.
People for whom there are no data about provenience are 843 (19.2%). People from
other nationalities slightly increase in number, but decrease in percentage (0.5%), showing
that Italians preferred to marry among themselves when possible, and that the marriage pool
had grown sufficiently large to enable this preference.
Torino is again the first province for numbers of immigrants with 2,201 (50.2%),
Lucca follows with 989 (22.6%). Belluno sixty-one (1.4%) is still the third, followed by
Bergamo with forty-one (0.9%), Varese with thirty-nine (0.9%), and Milano with twenty-
seven (0.6%). The remaining provinces with less than fifteen immigrants account for 3.7%.
The increase in the variety of provinces confirms the general trend of Italian
emigration during this period (see Table II, Chapter I). In fact from 1901 until 1915, the
period of the so-called ‘great emigration’, people start to leave in great numbers from many
regions, not only from northern ones. It is important to notice, though, that this is also the time
when emigration from Southern Italy tops that from the North. Yet we find just 22 people
from southern regions (Calabria, Campania, Basilicata, and Sicilia. The number could
increase to 42 if we include 20 individuals coming from central regions (Lazio, Abruzzo,
Molise, Sardegna, and Umbria). 25 One of the reasons why Houghton County does not appear a
favorite destination for southern Italians may be the weather, not really attractive for people
25 In some ships’ manifests, in fact, central regions are considered South.
18