The great wave of Italian immigrants to the United States began in the 1880s and lasted until 1920. More than four million Italians made the journey, with about 75 percent settling in cities on the East Coast.
A small contingent worked their way to the Pacific Northwest. Often unskilled or unable to speak the language, they took whatever jobs they could find – from digging ditches and pouring cement to mining coal and laying railroad tracks. To make the transition easier, they settled in communities with other Italians from their home town or region. Here they could speak their native dialect, find foods that looked recognizable, and access a network of amici to secure housing or a job.
By 1910, Washington state was home to less than one percent of Italians living in America. Seattle had the state’s largest population — nearly 3,500 Italians. Oregon and Idaho accepted their share of Italian immigrants, as well, primarily in logging and mining communities. Today, there are more than 300,000 Italian Americans in Washington, Oregon, and Idaho.
A new book, Italians in the Pacific Northwest, celebrates the stories of these individuals and their many contributions. Published by Arcadia Publishing as part of the Images of America imprint, the book draws on archival and family photographs, personal stories and memorabilia, and focuses on Italian immigrants who arrived in Washington, Oregon, and Idaho between 1880 and 1950.
The book’s author, Canadian-born Tessa Floreano, was inspired by her own family history. Her father was born in San Daniele del Friuli in Italy’s northeastern region of Friuli-Venezia Giulia. “My father moved to Toronto in the 1950s and then later to Vancouver, which is where I consider home,” she said. “He was around 20 years old and had decided that life in Italy at that time would not provide him with the future he wanted. After living in Canada for six years, he had earned enough money to go back to Italy where a matchmaker set him up with a local woman. This is how he met my mother.”
When her father died in 2009, Floreano realized that a door to her past had closed. Her father was no longer there to answer her questions or tell the stories she loved to hear. “That set me on a path,” she said. “I started researching my parents and our family history. I was able to trace my father’s family back to 1710 and my mother’s back to 1640 – and I’m not done yet!”
Her paternal grandmother and her father’s siblings also moved to North America but her mother’s family remained in Italy. “I’ve spent a portion of each of the last ten years visiting my mother’s family in Italy,” she said. ”With the help of my relatives, I accumulated quite a bit of research. “
Her parents’ first language was Friulan, which Floreano also speaks. “Friulan is an ancient dialect and one of the three remaining protected languages in Italy; the other two are Sardinian and Sicilian. When I visit my cousins in northern Italy, people are so surprised that I can speak Friulan.”
Floreano was attracted to writing at an early age. In the ninth grade, she entered a contest to write a romance novella; her entry received an honorable mention in a national Canadian women’s magazine. Unsure about writing full-time, she earned a business degree and spent about 10 years in the investment industry in Vancouver, Canada. On an online dating site, she met an American who would later become her husband. After their marriage in 1999, she moved to Seattle and started a career as a technical writer.
Her first published book was a work of historical fiction. Called Slain Over Spumoni, it is set in 1920s Grado, a northern Italian beach town, and combines murder, romance and gelato. Continuing with the food connection, one of Floreano’s short stories Sfogliatelle appeared in the anthology, The Bread Also Rises, published by the Writers Cooperative of the Pacific Northwest. Each story in the collection is followed by a tasty recipe for a food or drink mentioned in the narrative.
Italians in the Pacific Northwest is outside the fictional genre but instead speaks to Floreano’s interest in family and community history. “Thanks to all the research I had done, I felt I could address this subject accurately and I was passionate about it,” she said. “And the story of Italian immigrants is my story as well. I myself was not born in the US but moved here later in life.”
In July 2022, she submitted a proposal to Arcadia Publishing outlining her book concept. The publisher responded quickly and then it was off to the races. Floreano had to complete her research, write the text, find and scan photos – many previously unpublished – and organize the material into an interesting and cohesive whole. A completed draft was due in March 2023.
“I spent 50 to 60 hours a week on this project,” said Floreano. “I traveled, I scanned photos, I looked through boxes of documents and research materials, and I interviewed Italian Americans in person, on the phone and virtually.”
The 128-page book contains 220 photos and highlights some 81 individuals. Many of the Italians featured started small family-owned businesses that evolved into successful 21st-century brands, such as Oberto Sausage and DeLaurenti Food & Wine. Other individuals made contributions to the arts, science, medicine or agriculture.
This fall, Floreano traveled throughout the tristate area on a book tour, visiting local Italian clubs, bookstores and libraries. The book has been short-listed for the Nellie Bly Award for journalistic nonfiction as part of the Chanticleer International Book Awards.
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