Italy in the heart: a correspondent in the Italian heart of America

Historically, we Argentines are one of the peoples in the world that has welcomed the largest number of Italian emigrants. In our country, regardless of the alternation of ideologies and political currents, the reception of migrants has always been promoted. Regarding European migration in particular, we have recorded three significant flows in three different historical moments. The first, from 1876 to 1915, was called the Great exodus. The second, from 1916 to 1945, we know simply as Emigration between the wars, the third, which does not properly have a name, is the one that goes from 1946 to 1976. 

Photo by Sander Crombach on Unsplash

In 1895, during the Great exodus, exactly half of those arriving in Argentina came from Italy. In order of quantity from Veneto, Piedmont, Campania, Friuli, Sicily and Lombardy. During the'Emigration between the wars the order was Piedmont, Lombardy, Sicily, Veneto, Friuli, Campania. From 1946 onwards, Campania, Puglia, Veneto, Sicily, Calabria and Lombardy.

Regardless of the regional records, it is estimated that between 1876 and 1976 more or less 26 million Italians left their land to seek their fortune. Among them 3 million have found it in Argentina. 

In America to seek fortune

When we talk about emigration, we can do it by deepening the statistical data that I have just reported or we can do it without pen and paper, and without a computer. Seated and calmly perhaps, with ears, eyes and heart open. By listening to the stories, the stories, the experiences of those who have happened - by force or by choice - to emigrate from their land. We will discover a variety, such an intertwining of lives and feelings that it would be unthinkable to try to order them according to schemes or tables.

Let's just say that for many, leaving Italy and emigrating was an obligatory choice. There was no work and life was very hard. For some, however, emigration was more than anything else a challenge, a personal goal, or simply a beautiful adventure (for example, many have chosen to work with us only for a period and then return home).

Italian emigrant - The suitcase of an Italian migrant
The suitcase of an Italian migrant. Photo by: Amira Celeste Judge

Despite the various reasons that moved them, all those emigrants had one thing in common. The sense of one's land, of the roots. A sense that time fatally transforms into nostalgia: a feeling that cannot be explained in words, much less to those who have not been forced to leave home to start again elsewhere, perhaps towards the unknown. At that time go seek your fortune it meant also and above all challenge her luck. To challenge your fate between known difficulties (hunger, hardship) and unknown difficulties (what awaits us on the other side? I'll be up to it). Challenging fate in Argentina, many Italians have landed, more than from other nations, because Italians are forged with that colorful and beautiful combination of tenacity and recklessness, dedication and even irresponsibility that makes them unique. All essential qualities to leave the one you love most and set out in search of fortune, keeping only your heart, hope, and perhaps a few grains of earth in your pocket.

Italian emigrant - old photo with Italian emigrants in Argentina in black and white
Italian emigrants to Argentina. Photo by: Amira Celeste Giudice

Day of the Italian emigrant

On September 20, 1995, Law 24.561 decrees that on June 3, today, the Day of the Italian Emigrant is celebrated in Argentina. Why this date? Because it is the anniversary of the birth of Manuel Belgrano (1770), Argentine general father of our country and, needless to say, a descendant of Italians!

Italian emigrant - party of emigrants with costumes and flags
Italian colectividad during el desfile de inauguración de la XXXIV Fiesta Nacional del Inmigrante (Leandro Kibisz / Wikimedia Argentina CC BY-SA 3.0)

Today as then, Italians and their descendants are one of the most active and vibrant communities in Argentina. For us descendants, maintaining traditions and the link with the origins means keeping us embraced and at the same time embracing the distant land. The one that our ancestors had to leave, willy-nilly. Proudly, today, like every 3rd June, I together with all of them celebrate our little big family story, we celebrate the legacy of beauty that flows in our veins and that pulsating sends us straight to the other side of the ocean, where it always is. our heart.

Today we celebrate the Italian emigrant. My Buenos Aires is yours last edit: 2020-06-03T17:00:00+02:00 da Amira Celeste Judge

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