Italian Immigration

Italian explorers were among the first to arrive in the Americas, beginning with Christopher Columbus, John Cabot (Caboto), Giovanni da Verrazano, and Amerigo Vespucci, after whom the continent is named. As the new republic of the United States gained its independence, a relatively small number of Italian immigrants, mostly from northern Italy, arrived. These were skilled artisans and artists, as well as shopkeepers, seeking to make their fortune in the economic and cultural growth of the nascent societies in the new American republics. Italians have been deeply influential in the United States since its beginning as a new republic. Examples abound of Italian architecture having been adapted to the architecture of the early republic, such as the University of Virginia. The Italian William Paca of ...