” My grandparents came to America from Sicily in the early twentieth century were Italian. My parents were born here italoamericani. I was and still I am American Italian. And even though I know they will never forget their origins, my daughters are Americans. With pictures and words, this magnificent book outlines our transformation through the generations, that of my family and many other families, landed on these shores for hundreds of thousands to leave their mark in this place we call America … when the first waves of immigrants arrived from Italy, they rebuilt the world they knew. they created a place that was called Little Italy, which had all the beauty and warmth, all the pain and internal tensions, the country they had left. As growing up, Little Italy was a world into itself, located in a corner of the lower east side of Manhattan – and I am sure the same can be said of other Little Italy across the country, from Boston to San Diego. It bordered with another world, Chinatown. Prties, rituals, food, goods and values - all came from Southern Italy. Before I was born, people come from the same towns they lived in one building and marriages between men and women of different buildings were a delicate matter. My mother’s family came from Cimmina and my father’s family from Polizzi Generosa, and they married only after the elders of the two families came together and gave their consent . ” (From the foreword by Martin Scorsese )
