EXAMINING PATTERNS OF ITALIAN IMMIGRATION TO ...

1.0 Italian emigration: an introduction.
Chapter I - Italian Emigration
Italians have been the protagonists of the biggest migratory exodus in modern history. 3
From 1861 - year of the birth of the Italian nation - until 1988, the year of almost complete
exhaustion of the flows, about twenty-six million Italians left their country. 4 This emigration
evolved in four phases.
The first phase extended from 1876 until 1900 and saw a steady increase in the number
of emigrants. During the second phase, 1900-1914, the so-called years of the “great
emigration”, Italian emigration reached its peak. It ceased during World War I. The third
phase, between the two world wars, was characterized by a decrease in the number of
emigrants because of the global economic crisis and because of the restrictions imposed by
several foreign countries (an example is the earlier 1921 Immigration Act in the U.S.).
Fascism, which was hostile to emigration, and World War II almost eliminated emigration.
The fourth phase extended from the end of World War II until the 1960s. Immediately after the
end of the war there was an increase, but the pattern of emigration changed after Italy’s
entrance into the European Economic Community in 1957; the average of people going
abroad dropped severely. 5
Figures I, II, and III show the number of emigrants from each Italian region during the
first three phases of emigration. Although there are significant differences in time of departure
and in final destinations, people from every Italian region contributed to this emigration.
Between 1876 and 1900 there was a prevalence of emigrants from the northern regions:
Veneto, Piemonte, Friuli Venezia Giulia. During the following decades the trend was inverted
with the biggest number of departures from Sicilia, Campania, and Calabria. As for the
countries of destination, Italians almost equally divided between European countries and
American ones, with France and United States as the principal recipients (see Table I). Italians
emigrating towards America also showed particular patterns. Most Southern Italians
3
Tirabassi, Maddalena. L’emigrazione Italiana. www.comune.torino.it/infocultura/intercultura/12/12f3.html, 01-
30-2004.
4
The net difference between the number of emigrants and those that returned is between 12 and 14 million.
5
Collier’s Encyclopedia. New York: MacMillan Educational Company, 1991.
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