Category:Italian American Studies (Media)

Italian American Studies (Media)

Main Italian American Periodicals

• 1850-1894 -- L'Eco d'Italia (Boston, MA)

L'Eco d'Italia was one of the first most important Italian language newspapers in the United States with a daily frequency. It was owned and edited by the Italian exile Gian Francesco Secchi De Casali who had fled to the United States in 1844, at the height of the Italian revolutionary period that led to the Italian independence and unification in 1861. The unification of Italy and its aftermath were the central political issues of Secchi De Casali's newspaper. Felice Tocci, a banker, became the proprietor and publisher of Eco d'Italia and Rivista Commerciale Italo-Americana. He was the owner of the Banca Tocci in New York and the publishing house Libreria dell' Eco [for information on Felice Tocci, see New York (State). Supreme Court, et al. New York Supplement. St. Paul: West Pub. Covol. 12 (1891): 288. https://catalog.hathitrust.org/Record/100682352 External The paper merged with Rivista Italo-Americana to become Eco d'Italia Rivista Italo-Americana.

• 1880-1988 - Il progresso Italo Americano (New York, NY)

• 1915-1935 - Il Carroccio (New York, NY)

Founded as a monthly by Agostino De Biasi in 1915, Il Carroccio centered on the promotion of Italian national interests and culture in the U.S. It mainly served as a vehicle for fascist propaganda during the height of Mussolini's regime. Agostino De Biasi was one of the eight children of Giuseppe De Biasi, a prominent lawyer in Sant'Angelo dei Lombardi (province of Avellino in Campania, Italy). Agostino De Biasi was the first of family to emigrate to the U.S. in 1900. In New York, he immediately started working for Il Progresso Italo-Americano becoming its editor-in-chief. Through Il Carroccio, he intended to report Italy's engagement in WWI. He also established the New York fascio (league). In spite of Agostino De Biasi's loyalty to the fascist cause, he lost the support of the fascist regime in 1927. Il Carroccio was banned from Italy and ceased publication between 1928 and 1931. After resuming briefly, it officially ceased in 1935.

• 1922-1971 - L'Adunata dei Refrattari (New York, NY)

L'Adunata dei Refrattari was the most important Italian American anarchist publication not only for its long duration (1922-1971), but also for the range of its international circulation. In 1920, L'Adunata dei Refrattari formed a Committee for the Defense of Nicola Sacco and Bartolomeo Vanzetti with Carlo Tresca (see Il Proletario, Illinois) and Aldino Felicani (see Controcorrente, Massachusetts). It was first published as a fortnighly until 1923 when it became a weekly. Editors were Efisio Costantino Zonchello (1922-1925), an immigrant from Borore (Sardinia, Italy); Ilario Margarita (1927-1928), an immigrant from Castelrosso (Piedmont, Italy); and, Max Sartin, pseudonym for Raffaele Schiavina (1928-?), and immigrant from Ferrara (Emilia Romagna, Italy). The anti-organization and individualistic ideology that informed L'Adunata isolated it from other Italian radical papers and movements. Other titles also in English: Refractaries' Adunation, Jan. 13-Nov. 17, 1934; Call of the Refractaries, Nov. 24, 1934-Apr. 24, 1971. Also available in Microfilm: http://lccn.loc.gov/sn94091771.

• 1924-1931 - Il Lavoratore

• 1925-1931 - Il Nuovo Mondo (New York, NY)

Il Nuovo Mondo was the first antifascist daily newspaper to appear outside Italy. Antifascism in the United States was organized as early as the equivalent movement in Italy (1924-25) by a group of labor organizers, anarchists, and socialists such as Luigi Antonini (1883-1968), the general secretary of a local section of the International Ladies' Garment Workers Union (see Legal, Trade, and Labor Periodicals, New York). Antonini collaborated closely with other relevant socialists and anarchists such as Carlo Tresca (Il Proletario, New York) and Girolamo Valente (La Parola, New York). Another relevant editor of Il Nuovo Mondo was the socialist Vincenzo Vacirca (1886-1956). The paper included contributions from the International Ladies' Garment Workers' Union and Avanti News Co., Inc. It was initially boycotted by fascist supporters and advertising was discontinued. In August 1926 the paper published the Manifesto of the Antifascist Alliance of North America. Then, in July 1927, fascists plundered the printing office and police arrested the editors.

• 1932-1938 - L’Unità Operaia (1932-1938),

• 1938-1941 - Il Mondo (New York, NY)

Published in Italian with English sections, Il Mondo was an antifascist monthly periodical that became the unofficial organ of the antifascist Mazzini Society founded in 1939 by Gaetano Salvemini (1873-1957). Salvemini was an Italian politician, an antifascist activist, and intellectual who fled to the United States in 1927 to escape Mussolini's regime. He opposed resistance to the Fascist Regime forming relevant militant groups such as Giustizia e Libertà. He taught at Harvard University, published important works about Mussolini and the Fascists Regime. He collaborated with Italian antifascists émigrés such as Max Ascoli (1898-1978) and Carlo Sforza (1872-1952). Il Mondo's emphasis was on exposing the activities of fascist sympathizers in the United States.

• 1939-1954 - L'Unità del Popolo (New York, NY)

L'Unità dl Popolo's first issue appeared in New York City on March 25, 1939 as was an eight-page weekly (with one page in English) costing five cents per copy and $2.00 for an annual subscription. During World War II, it appeared twice per week in reduced size of six or four pages. It became a tabloid in 1950. It succeeded Il Lavoratore (1924-1931), L’Unità Operaia, (1932-1938), and the short-lived Il Popolo as the organ of the Italian Americans supporting communist ideology. The paper’s support derived from the Garibaldi American Fraternal Society, the Italian section of the Communist Party’s fraternal organization, the International Workers Order (IWO). The headquarters of L’Unità at 80 East 11th Street reflected its ties to organizations and unions influenced by communism: the Furniture Workers’ Joint Council, the Labor Research Association, and La Parola, the Italian-language weekly associated with the Amalgamated Clothing Workers Union. The editors and contributors Giuseppe Berti (1901-1979) and Ambrogio Donini (1903-1991) were important Italian communist exiles who contributed to the foundation and activity of this newspaper.