…built specifically for an Italian-American congregation to the cafe where cappuccino was first introduced to the country, to the birthplace of Fiorello LaGuardia, NYC’s first Italian-American mayor. Original interior, courtesy of St. Anthony’s…
Read MoreOctober is Italian American History and Heritage month, and it is impossible to deny the influence that Italian culture and immigration has had on our neighborhoods. This is especially true…
Read MoreOctober is Italian-American Heritage and Culture Month! That’s a perfect time to take a closer look at the East Village’s own historic Little Italy, centered around First Avenue near the beloved pastry…
Read More…organization, initially located in the South Village, was the Italian Benevolent Institute. The Italian Benevolent Institute at 165-169 West Houston Street The Italian Benevolent Institute (Societa di benficenza) was the…
Read More…in 1854. From 1859 to 1867, he organized volunteers into military units to participate in battles designed to join Sicily with the Italian peninsula under the auspices of an Italian…
Read More…popular sites in the neighborhood connected to its Italian heritage provided sustenance of a spiritual or culinary nature. But ultimately the Italian immigrant and Italian-American community of the South Village…
Read More…Italian heritage organization in the United States” and today it continues its mission, devoted to the dissemination of knowledge of Italian culture. Google Street view of 77 MacDougal Street 77…
Read More…its launch in 1939, Time Magazine said, “The best Italian refugee and Italian-American brains in the U.S. last week launched in New York City a new anti-Fascist paper, Il Mondo (“An Italian Daily with…
Read More…“The Italians of the South Village.” This collection mainly focuses on Our Lady of Pompeii Church during the period of great Italian immigration which lasted from the 1880s through the…
Read More…at Enoteca Maria, cooking Northern Italian food part-time. But there was a catch: the concept of the restaurant at the time involved having Italian grandmothers from different parts of the…
Read More…has helped us identify buildings owned and occupied by Italian-Americans as well sites of Italian bakeries and shops. We also learned that there was an Italian theater in the back…
Read More[source: Library of Congress; Marjory Collins, 1942]Eight years ago today, on October 8, 2007, GVSHP published the report, “The Italians of the South Village” as part of the Historic South…
Read More…ago went through, especially Italian immigrants. Nicosia Graziano. © Center for Migration Studies of New York. www.archive.gvshp.org. This image is from the Center for Migration Studies Collection of our Historic…
Read More…we had already had….. The demarcated section of this 1919 map points out the South Village as an Italian-American enclave Greenwich Village was designated as an historic district in 1969,…
Read MoreOctober, the month when we mark Columbus Day, is also Italian-American Heritage and Culture Month. That combined with the recent celebrations around the 125th anniversary of Veniero’s inspires a closer…
Read More…influence that Italian culture and immigration has had on our neighborhoods. This is especially true in the South Village, an area which in the early 1900s was a predominantly Italian neighborhood, and…
Read More…shaped life in our neighborhood. It is hard to imagine that, not that long ago, New York City, the Italian-American capital of the United States, contained hardly any Italian immigrants….
Read More…Maps Today we will look at mid-19th century styles including Gothic Revival, Italianate and Anglo Italianate. Gothic Revival emerged as a style in this country during the 1840’s and 1850’s, with…
Read More…number of Italians and Italian–Americans declined significantly. To learn more about the impact of Italian immigration on the neighborhood, check out this report GVSHP commissioned about the South Village. While…
Read MoreNo, this post is not about where to find public restrooms in the Village. It is, though, about a very important part of New York City’s culture: Italian cuisine. Italian…
Read More…on August 6, 1930. His funeral was so grand as to be noted in The New York Times. Gli Italiani negli Stati Uniti d’America. New York: Italian‐American Chamber of Commerce,…
Read More…specialties, using great ingredients. The base of most items consists of two classic Italian café staples: the bombolone, the Italian version of the donut; and the cornetto, the Italian version…
Read More…the second Italian parish founded in the United States, the oldest existing Italian parish in the U.S. and the first parish church building built by Italian immigrants in the United…
Read More…East 7th Street Sara Jenkins, cookbook author and Top Chef alum, has made the East Village her personal playground for affordable, rustic Italian cooking (read more about her HERE). East…
Read More…1885, in the period following Italian unification when poor Italians, especially southern Italians, began to leave the country en masse, seeking better lives and opportunities. At 15 years old, Antonio…
Read More…outstanding and affordable destination to sample three of the what Giovanni calls i quatro assi della cucina italiana (the four aces of Italian cooking): rigatoni alla carbonara, spaghetti all’amatriciana, and…
Read More…of Italian heritage in the area, including two South Village icons: Lucy and Lenny Cecere. Lucy Cecere speaking at the 178 Bleecker Street rally, 2009 The Ceceres owned a home…
Read MoreFiorello (Italian for ‘Little Flower’) LaGuardia is remembered today as one of New York City’s greatest mayors. A progressive who guided New Yorkers through the Depression and World War II,…
Read More…fascinating report authored by scholar Mary Elizabeth Brown about the Italian community of the South Village. You can read the report, “The Italians of the South Village,” here. Not only…
Read More…Square, and the area of the East Village around 1st Avenue between 14th and Houston Streets had thriving Italian American and Italian immigrant communities, and therefore lots of pasta. Within…
Read More…popularized by Francesco Zambrini, a Bolognese. For this reason, Bologna claims lasagna as its own. The Accademia Italiana della Cucina, whose mission is the preservation of Italy’s culinary heritage, calls…
Read More…Ides we can’t be aware of it with our own twist. Below are a few tidbits of Village history that hopefully help you notice the impact of Hellenistic culture, Italian…
Read More…Anthony of Padua, stands proudly as the first Italian parish in New York State, the second Italian parish founded in the United States, the oldest existing Italian parish in the…
Read More…and 1940 In 1939, Time Magazine said, “The best Italian refugee and Italian-American brains in the U.S. last week launched in New York City a new anti-Fascist paper, Il Mondo (“An Italian Daily with…
Read More…remained primarily a food of Italian immigrants and their children, the dish eventually traveled westwards and to the suburbs along with Italian-American migration. The acceleration of this trend during the…
Read More…the most densely populated Italian communities in New York’s history. The Italian immigrants forged a vibrant community anchored by the Church of St. Anthony of Padua and a number of…
Read More…oldest existing Italian parish in the U.S. and the first parish church building built by Italian immigrants in the United States. Saint Anthony’s has been popularly called “The Italian Cathedral”…
Read More…We’ll also explore, with historian James Nevius, who paved the way for Italians in the district and talk about the importance of holding on to the Italian places that still…
Read More…75 Washington Place a little further. Greenwich Village Guide, 1959, features an advertisement for Marta, serving French-Italian cuisine. The Blue Hill website notes that the “restaurant occupies a landmark ‘speakeasy’…
Read More…the kids in my neighborhood were the children of immigrants too: Italian, Ukrainian, Polish, Greek, Lebanese, Armenian, French Canadian, Lithuanian, Spanish, etc. We heard each other’s native languages spoken in…
Read More…including Gothic Revival, Italianate and Anglo Italianate. East 7th Street in the East Village/Lower East Side historic district Today we will look at additional mid-to-late 19th century styles including…
Read More…1886 which is the country’s oldest Italian-American church, built for its very first Italian-American parish. The landmark designation is particularly important as the area has faced increasing development pressure and demolition of…
Read More…the city’s best mayor (and arguably both its first Italian-American and first Jewish mayor), who championed political reform and immigrant rights, and led New York City through the Great Depression…
Read More…a predominantly Italian neighborhood and home to many of these Italian cafes. While it became less Italian as the 20th century wore on, members of the Beat Generation such as Jack…
Read More…to visit another historic Italian establishment with links to gangster culture- DeRobertis Pasticceria and Caffe at 176 First Avenue. L: DeRobertis Pasticceria on 1st Avenue between 10th & 11th Streets;…
Read More…Bleecker Street. When Father Demo arrived, he found a growing congregation of Italian immigrants, who had recently begun their great wave of migration to the city. Churches serving the Italian…
Read More…in the United States was in Boston. In the beginning of his service at Our Lady of Pompeii, he oversaw a congregation largely of recent Italian immigrants. He established church…
Read More…Trench, the architect who would then shape a large part of the historic district, got his start here with a substantial Italianate brick building at 301 East 10th Street. Trench…
Read More…Noho. Much of this area’s history is defined by tenements and immigrants, particularly Italian-Americans; by speakeasies, jazz clubs, beatnik coffeehouses, and folk music clubs from the area’s counter-cultural heyday of…
Read More…Father of Modern Italy” was dedicated on June 4, 1888, just eight years after Garibaldi’s death. The statue and pedestal were commissioned and paid for by Italian immigrants from the…
Read More…such as racketeering, the relationship between local Italian immigrants and Bohemian newcomers, the community’s reaction to interracial and homosexual couples, expansion of New York University, gentrification, and Greenwich Village as…
Read More…Joseph Trench and John B. Snook for the prosperous and pioneering merchant Alexander Turney Stewart (October 12, 1803 – April 10, 1876). This magnificent Italian Renaissance “Marble Palace” at 280…
Read More…Italian immigrants from the area who began the campaign to erect the monument almost immediately after Garibaldi’s passing, speaking to the breadth and influence of this community as early as…
Read More…Italianate cornice, added in 1872, this was originally a two-story Federal house built of Flemish bond brickwork. It was erected in 1830 for John Mildeberger, a wealthy tallow chandler. Pineapples…
Read More…Appropriately, the house tour offers a look at many of these styles. Prominent this time is the Italianate style, popular during the mid-19th century. “Characterized by elaborate, bold, projecting ornament…
Read More…of Christians, the Roman Catholic Church on 12th Street and Avenue A about which GVSHP recently did some reporting. The church’s surrounding environs were once a thriving Italian-American community. Not…
Read More…three-term New York City mayor often cited as New York City’s best mayor (and arguably both its first Italian-American and first Jewish mayor), who championed political reform and immigrant rights,…
Read More…district so that it now directly abuts GVSHP’s proposed South Village district. This 1920 map depicts the borders of the South Village Italian community. Map excerpt via the New York…
Read More…of the department’s “Italian Squad,” an elite corps of Italian-American detectives organized specifically to uproot organized crime and combat the mafia. Petrosino was considered a pioneer in organized crime-fighting techniques,…
Read More…cafe describes itself on its website: Veniero’s Café, with its stamped copper ceilings, Italian marble floors, and stained glass ceilings, is an old world style Italian café where one can…
Read More…located at 168 1st Avenue in a tenement built in 1871, was opened in 1904 by Sicilian-Italian transplant Michael Lanza. It is rumored that in Italy he had been chef…
Read More…Italian immigrants in the South Village and nuns in Cincinnati, Ohio keep reading. Let’s start off with the essentials. What is left of the sign today – a signature of…
Read More…maintained, paying homage to that chapter of the house’s history as well. 1855 Italianate The Aldrich Home was built in 1855 as part of a row of eight Italianate houses…
Read More…an immigrant population. In the early days, the Mass was in English and Italian; in later years, the Mass was in English and Spanish. We would have a large procession…
Read More…the Italianate style “The five-story red brick Italianate building features terracotta plaques on the fifth floor at the top of each pier separating the four bays. In 1927, two tenements…
Read More…If any readers have information to share, submit a comment! For more information about the Italian history of the South Village, see GVSHP’s report the “Italians of the South Village.”…
Read MoreColumbus Day has traditionally served as an opportunity to honor the contributions of Italian-Americans to our country. St. Anthony of Padua Church (1888) and adjacent tenements on Sullivan Street; St….
Read More…Vito Corleone’s Italian neighborhood of 1917, where he first started his family and his life of crime. I even found a couple stills from the movie where you can clearly make out…
Read More…boxing promoter and prominent Italian resident who grew up in the South Village, the theater was designed by architects Reilly & Hall. May 7, 1922 New York Times article. Source:…
Read More…the greatest military minds of the period. The many Italians who centered around Greenwich Village, making it one of the largest Italian immigrant communities in New York in the late…
Read More…house the incoming immigrant population and there are excellent examples of pre-law, old-law and new law configurations designed in the Italianate, neo-Grec, Queen Anne, Romanesque and Renaissance Revival Styles. 269-271…
Read MoreRecreating the Italian Immigrant neighborhood of 1917 for The Godfather Part II, filmed in 1970 Immigrant Heritage Week is held by NYC each year to honor our collective immigrant heritage….
Read More…constructed along West 14th Street, establishing the section between Union Square and Ninth Avenue as an emerging residential enclave for upper- and upper-middle-class New Yorkers. Greek Revival and Italianate row…
Read More…De Chiara, an Italian-American Roman Catholic, despite the opposition of their respective parents. Unsurprisingly for a 20th-century writer, Malamud made his way to Greenwich Village. For a number of years,…
Read More…American history to be found in Greenwich Village and the East Village. While both neighborhoods became better known for different kinds of communities in later years – Italians, Ukrainians, gay men…
Read More…time he started working as a manager at local Italian eatery Cacio e Vino in 2017, Gabriele was already developing ideas for opening his own place, a Roman-style pizza joint….
Read More…Petrosino the first Italian-American to lead the NYPD’s homicide division. Petrosino later became the head of the department’s “Italian Squad,” an elite corps of Italian-American detectives organized specifically to uproot…
Read More…at this East 11th Street location just west of First Avenue when the area was an Italian enclave. It has been celebrated several times here on Off the Grid as…
Read More…Historic District proposed by GVSHP. Founded by and for Italian immigrants, the church’s architecture is based directly upon Italian Renaissance models, and dominates nearby Father Demo Square, named for one…
Read More…the neighborhood changed away from longstanding Italian families that cooked their food from scratch, the store introduced a variety of prepared goods based on Romana’s own recipes. In the 80s,…
Read More…in New York’s Italian South Village, in preparation for Tuesday’s South Village landmarking vote. To read up on these programs from the past year, click here. Image courtesy of Amazon….
Read More…housing for Italian immigrants. Today it has returned to a single-family residence. And of course a lot happened in between. This is only part of the story of this house….
Read More…ten houses at #20-38 was built in 1856 (with the exception of No 38, built in 1858) in the Anglo-Italianate style. Their design is attributed to American architect James Renwick,…
Read More…The church was built over an extended 55-year period, with the main building constructed of fieldstone in the Georgian style, the Greek Revival steeple completed in 1828, and the Italianate…
Read MoreIn the old Italian South Village, St. Anthony of Padua church stands on the corner of Sullivan Street and Houston Street, an anchor for the vibrant community of Italian immigrants…
Read More…1937. Photo courtesy of NYPL Digital Collections. As written in the designation report, the four-and-a-half story Italianate style building at 47 Fifth Avenue was constructed in 1852-1853 for Irad Hawley,…
Read More…was once home to “Little Africa,” New York’s largest African-American community), to its Italian-American immigrant history, to its artistic and bohemian history. But this designation report also broke new ground…
Read More…contributions made by Italian-Americans to our country. Our “Save the South Village” video campaign began as an effort to highlight the incredible history (Italian-American and so much more) of the…
Read More…is a house which dates to 1852, making it part of the “younger generation” of houses. The Greek Revival/Italianate home has a largely intact exterior with handsome brownstone and brick…
Read More…Sara Jenkins, who first brought rustic Italian cooking to the neighborhood with her runaway hit Porchetta (East 7th Street) in 2008. The eight-itemed, pork-centered menu is considered brilliant in its…
Read More…protect working-class people. International Workers Order logo, c. 1930-1939. Photo courtesy of Wikipedia. The IWO supported fifteen language federations, including the Jewish People’s Fraternal Order, the Italian Garibaldi Society, and…
Read More…and Carmine Streets. The building formally opened on October 7, 1928. The church’s architect was Mathew Del Gaudio, an Italian American graduate of Cooper Union active in his profession from…
Read More…foreground figures; the artist Rene’s “I am the best artist” mural in SoHo; and a street artist producing his wares on the sidewalk. An Italian-American New York Bocce Court at…
Read More…South Village and SoHo. The church itself was founded in 1886 and was one of the first churches to serve the South Village’s growing population of Italian immigrants during the…
Read More…Street. The Center has been a focal point for the LGBTQ+ community in New York City since its founding in 1983. It acquired the three-story Italianate-style former school from the…
Read More…York” Collection ca. 1980, www.archive.gvshp.org. In the 1950s and 60s the market changed. Many of the original vendors left, following their Jewish and Italian clients to the suburbs. Vendors from…
Read More…work in our neighborhoods — past and present. From The Italians of the South Village commissioned for Village Preservation: Immigrants recreated mutual benefit societies in the United States. These societies…
Read More…building clad in travertine from the same Italian quarries of marble used to build ancient Roman buildings (the Italian government would donate half a million dollars for the purchase of…
Read More…in 2013 (see photos here). The San Remo Cafe, which was open from the mid-1920s until the late 1960s, began its life as an Italian-American cafe like so many others…
Read More…South of Union Square Row House Tour. This 4-story plus raised basement Italianate style rowhouse was built in 1847-48 for William Bailey, and remarkably retains intact its Italianate doorway, cornice,…
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