As a nation state, Italy has emerged only in 1871. Until then the country was politically divided into a large number of independant cities, provinces and islands. The currently available evidences point out to a dominant Etruscan, Greek and Roman cultural influence on today's Italians.
I have heard that a Loprinzi family left Trabia, Sicily for America because the mafia came to him and said "if you tell anyone we are here, we will kill you and your family." Did the mafia voyage far outside of Palermo and Corleone? Would they have done this?
My mom and dad came from two very different classes of Italian society. Dad's mom came from a very aristocrat family and mom's came from farmers and agricultural workers. When my mom's parents came to the US, they left their oldest son Giovanni in the care of my maternal grandmother's parents. I hea...
