Abstract
DiMaria examines the causes that led millions of Italians to emigrate during the last decades of the nineteenth century and beyond. He dismisses claims that what caused Southern Italians to emigrate en masse was the hardship brought on by the new kingdom’s fiscal policies. He also refutes the long-held view that emigration on such large scale was due to enduring poverty. He contends that what drove people to emigrate had more to do with the new opportunities opening up abroad. The Americas in particular were in great need of manpower to settle their vast territories and expand their economies. Moreover, seafaring became cheaper, faster, and safer, as steam vessels began to replace the slow and dangerous sailing ships, also known as “coffin ships.”
This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.
Access this chapter
Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout
Purchases are for personal use only
Notes
- 1.
Stibili reports, “American government statistics show that between 1880 and 1924, more than 4.5 million Italians entered the United States […] largely made up of southern peasants driven to emigrate by the poverty of their region and attracted by the economic possibilities of the expanding and industrializing America” (301).
- 2.
The Catania Chamber of Commerce, in its June 1861 report to the government, stated that Sicilian textile manufactures were complaining about the negative impact of free trade on their industry and were asking the government to re-impose tariffs on foreign imports lest the entire industry be driven out of business. The law had reduced tariffs, the report noted, “sulla importazione dei tessuti esteri ad una mitezza tale da recare la inazione e la paralisi all’industria siciliana, per il che chiedono di elevarsi il dazio sui tessuti stranieri onde non venir meno un ramo d’industria cotanto esteso” (in Romeo, 451).
- 3.
“I nostri commercianti son limitatissimi di cognizioni, di speculazione, e di capitali […] nissuno [sic] di essi si dà senno di spedire i propri figli nelle estere nazioni per ivi apprendere i di loro commerci (Salafria, 135).
- 4.
“Tutti erano bianchi di polvere fin sulle ciglia, le labbra o le code; nuvolette biancastre si alzavano attorno alle persone che giunte alla tappa si spolveravano l’un l’altra” (Tomasi di Lampedusa, 35).
- 5.
On the dearth of transportation infrastructure, there is a considerable amount of testimony. See in particular, Bianchini, 287, Cingari, 51–56, Giura, 247, Padula, 82, and Pontieri, 58.
- 6.
“Apriamo strade, strade, e poi strade. Il popolo col suo lavoro guadagnerassi il pane […] L’agricoltura trovando spaccio ai suoi prodotti, s’immeglierà. Ed il commercio rifiorirà su questa terra, che di tutto abbonda” (in Cingari, 37).
- 7.
For other details and, in particular, the agricultural output of this period, see De Stefano and Oddo, 104–09, Romeo, 74, and Sereni, 31, 225, 229.
- 8.
“Il contadino lavorava meno e mangiava, abitava e vestiva decisamente meglio” (Morano, 538).
- 9.
For the trade war with France (1887–92), see Meloni and Swinnmen, 10 and 34, table 2. See also Federico, 415–17.
- 10.
From 1881 to 1901, the Italian population went from 29 to 33 million people (Erickson, 96). On the availability of wheat, see also Sori’s table on p. 116.
- 11.
Pretelli, 39, notes that in Sicily emigration was slow and stable until the repression of the Fasci, when people left in droves.
- 12.
De Stefano, 420, points out that the mass emigration that started in the 1880s has been called a grandiose labor strike, a tacit revolt against the abuses practiced by certain social classes, “un grandioso sciopero, una tacita rivolta contro le prepotenze esercitate da alcuni ceti sociali.”
- 13.
Baines, 44, notes that between 1836 and 1853, about 1.5% of emigrants from European ports to New York traveling on these ships died on board or soon after arrival. For deaths on specific steamships, see Sori, 325.
- 14.
Taylor, 149, gives a detailed account of the emigrants’ tiresome journey to Naples and the frustrating attempt to get the required paperwork.
- 15.
“per mancanza di posti in stiva, erano accampati come bestiame sopra coperta, dove avevan vissuto per settimane inzuppati d’acqua e patito un freddo di morte; e agli altri moltissimi che avevan rischiato di crepar di fame e di sete in bastimenti sprovvisti di tutto, o di morir avvelenati dal merluzzo avariato o dall’acqua corrotta” (De Amicis, 27).
- 16.
On the variety of assistance that the St. Raphael Society offered to arriving emigrants, see Stibili’s article.
- 17.
On the agents’ role and the commercial advertising directed at emigrants, see Taylor, 68–83.
- 18.
Martellini, 297, gives much higher estimates: there were 5000 agents in 1892, 7000 in 1895, 10,000 in 1901, and 13,000 in 1911.
- 19.
From Jesus Maria, Argentina, on April 23, 1878, Vittorio Petrei writes:
Charisimi fratelli […] mi trovo con tento di essere venuto inamerica per che qua si e sicuri di non morire di fame che qua valle più 2 giorni di lavoro che in i talia 2 mesi […] I Signori di talia diceva che in america si trova delle bestie feroce, in i talia sono le bestie che sono i signori. (in Franzina, 96)
- 20.
See Massullo, 86–92, tables 1–5.
- 21.
For the surge of Little Italies in other parts of the world, see Garroni, 145–72.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
Copyright information
© 2018 The Author(s)
About this chapter
Cite this chapter
DiMaria, S. (2018). Emigration. In: Towards a Unified Italy. Italian and Italian American Studies. Palgrave Macmillan, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-90766-6_5
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-90766-6_5
Published:
Publisher Name: Palgrave Macmillan, Cham
Print ISBN: 978-3-319-90765-9
Online ISBN: 978-3-319-90766-6
eBook Packages: HistoryHistory (R0)