Nov. 24 – What happened to the first-generation Italian immigrants who sought a better life in America? What about their grandchildren, the Italian Americans, how are they doing? Reporter and photographers Paolo Battaglia, Daniela Garutti and Giulia Frigieri, all from Modena, embarked on a journey to bring us the answers on September 29 and returned on November 3. They met with US citizens of Italian origin who live in small communities scattered throughout the country and asked them to share their memories through words, food, photographs, family and local traditions. The goal was to understand how much Italy has remained within these communities. The tour will be explained in a photo book and a documentary to be released in 2015. The three reporters selected American towns (and some large cities), “from California to New York Island, from the Redwood Forests to the Gulf Stream Waters,” as Woody Guthrie sang, and moved from one to another to understand the reasons that led many of our countrymen, to move from Ellis Island further west, north, and south.
