Utah Italians

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Template:Date=April 2008 Utah Italians include the descendants of immigrants from Italy, and a small number of recent immigrants from Italy. More and more Utah Italians of the third and fourth generations are trying to reconnect to the rich heritage of their country of origin, also to gain a better perspective of their American identity. The state of Utah has been a smaller but important factor in the history of Italian Americans in the U.S.

Differently from the northern European nations, Italy provided very few immigrants for the first “wave” of Mormon converts to Utah in the 1850-1880. Only a small group of about 50 Waldensians from an area near Turin came to the Salt Lake Valley in that early period. They had been converted by the missionary efforts of Joseph Toronto and Lorenzo Snow, who later became the President of the LDS Church. The name of those Waldensian families, such as Bertoche, Beuse, Cardon, Chatelain, and Malan, today are of historical importance, because their descendants are very numerous, and are deeply intertwined with the development of Utah. The second wave of immigrants, from 1890 to 1920s, is the most important, because it involved thousand of people from every region of Italy, but especially from the southern regions of Calabria and Sicily, and the northern regions of Piedmont and Trentino. The new immigrants settled in the Counties of Salt Lake, Carbon and Weber, where most of the railroad and mining jobs were available. A Little Italy soon spread in the west side of Salt Lake City around the Rio Grande station, with stores selling Italian food and merchandise. The catholic parish where Italians met was Saint Patrick, located in their neighborhood, but named for the patron saint of Ireland since many Irish catholic and Germans from Austria and Switzerland lived there.

In the 1950s Little Italy was cut in the middle by the construction of the freeway (the I-215), and from then on it decayed rapidly. Lately, a little revival is taking place in the area, after the opening of a cluster of stores dealing with Italian food, and a restaurant in the 1990s. For a few years, an Italian Center has organized lectures, classes of language, and other cultural events in a room provided by one of the stores. The Italian Festival Ferragosto is also kept every August in that historical area. A very successful farmer’s market, similar to the Italian ones, helps to create a Mediterranean atmosphere.

1 Demographics
2 Outstanding Italians in Utah
3 Organizations
- 3.1 Past
4 See also

[edit] Demographics

According to the 2000 census, 57,500 people in Utah claimed some Italian ancestry. About 3,000 of them are recent immigrants. The percentage of Italian Americans in Utah is about 2.3 percent. Nationally, their percentage is calculated around 5.6 percent. Fewer Italians live in Utah because they typically prefer areas more similar and closer to Italy. In fact, the majority live in the Northeast, in the Midwest, in California, and in Florida. However, the significant number of Italian Americans in Utah have well adjusted to its culture, and contribute to the economic and social development of the state.^[1]

[edit] Outstanding Italians in Utah

Fortunato Anselmo. He was the Vice Consul of Italy of Salt Lake City from the 1920s to the beginning of the World War II. He was very respected for his volunteer work in favor of the new Italian immigrants.
Joseph Barboglio, founder of the Helper State Bank in the 1920s.
Frank Bonacci. He was the first Italian to be elected to the State Legislature, in 1932. In that capacity, he sponsored the bill for the foundation of the College of Eastern Utah in Price, Carbon County. In his early years he was a dedicated Union organizer.
Monsignor Alfredo Giovannoni was for many years the parish priest who was in charge of the pastoral care of the Italian immigrants from the 1920s to the 1950s. He worked first in Helper, and then in Salt Lake City.
Frank Granato was the founder of Granato Importing Company in the 1948. Today it is the most important business dedicated to Italian food in Utah.
Joseph Toronto Was the first Italian who came to Utah with the first pioneers in 1848. He was the "President's (Brigham Young) herdsman." In 1850 he accompanied Lorenzo Snow in the first Italian Mormon mission in the Turin area, where they converted a few Waldensians. He has many notable descendants in Utah.^[2]

Dominic Albo is professor of surgery at the University of Utah. His ancestors came from Calabria in Southern Italy.
Mario Capecchi, is the 2007 Nobel Prize winner for Medicine. Certainly, he is now the most ever famous Italian American in Utah. (For more info click on his name).
Mike Homer is a lawyer, Utah history author, and current President of the Utah Historical Society. He is a descendant of a Waldensian family, the Bertoch.
Philip Notarianni is the Director of the Utah Historical Society, and the major expert of the history of the Italian immigration in Utah.
Ronald Yengich has been one of the top criminal lawyers in Utah for the past twenty years.

[edit] Organizations

[edit] Past

The main goal of the early fraternal organizations were to provide funding for sick days to members, because at that time there was no coverage for workers. The most important were: Fratellanza Minatori, founded at Sunnyside in 1902. Italian Americanization Club, was based in in Salt Lake City, starting from 1919. Società Cristoforo Colombo, operated in Salt Lake City, Ogden and Caste Gate for several years, starting in 1897.^[3]

The Friendly Club was founded in Ogden by a group of northern Italians from the region of Trentino (north of Venice) in 1937. Today it is called the Trentini Club. The Italian American Civic League was founded in 1934 and it is still active today. Italian American Lawyers Association, founded a few years ago. They have montly meetings. The Italian Vice Consulate of Salt Lake City, depends from the Italian Consulate of San Francisco. Ferragosto Festival, organizes a yearly Italian Fair, on August.

As of today, Brigham Young University is the only educational institution in Utah that has a B.A. program in Italian Language and Culture. They offer also a Study Abroad program in Florence and Rome. The University of Utah offers a minor in Italian language, and a Study Abroad program in Siena. Through OSHER a beginning language course is also offered. East High School in Salt Lake City offers a short beginning course. Nationally, Italian is the fourth most taught language in schools and colleges, after Spanish, French, and German.

In the early years of Italian immigration several newspapers appeared, such as Il Minatore, edited by Mose Paggi, La Gazzetta Italiana, by G. Milano, La Scintilla, by Alfonso Russo and G. Milano, and Il Corriere d'America, by Frank Niccoli and Alfonso Russo. Copies of these newpapers, as well as old pictures, and taped and transcribed interviews of prominent Italians are kept at the Special Collection of the Marriott Library, University of Utah. Recently the In Piazza magazine has been published from 1998 to 2004. As of today (2007), there are no Italian paper periodicals published in Utah. Instead, there are a few websites listed below.^[4] Concerning scholarly publications, Phil Notarianni has written several articles about the Italian immigrants in Utah. ^[5] Recently, Mike Homer has published a book on foreign visitors to Utah, and one of his chapters is dedicated to Italian travelers.^[6]

Along the years Italy has provided Utah with thousand of people. Some came for religious motivations and most for better economic opportunities. Four thousand came as prisoners of war and a few remained in Utah after the World War II ended. Eight of them rest in a Salt Lake City cemetery after being killed by a camp sentinel gone crazy. A few hundred Utah soldiers fought in Italy against the German and the Fascists and several died. Regarding the number of people, for many years the balance has been in favor of Italy. But starting from the late 1960s, many Mormon missionaries from Utah are active in the major Italian cities. In the past forty years several thousand of them have spent two years in Italy, and probably thousand more will do in the future. As a result of their efforts, about 20,000 Italians have converted to Mormonism. Some of them have married former Mormon missionaries. LDS chapels and congregations are present in most Italian cities.^[7] The Genealogical Society of Utah has microfilmed a large percentage of Italy’s Catholic Church and Civil Records. This project is ongoing.

Italy is one of the top 25 Utah's trading partners. Gold is the major product exported to Italy, followed by computer electronics and software.^[8] According to official data, Utah is visited every year by about 12,000 Italians.^[9]