New York City has the largest population of Italian-Americans in the United States of America and North America, many of whom live in ethnic enclaves in Brooklyn, the Bronx, Manhattan, Queens and Staten Island. The chief economist of the US World Herald, Gina Friedman, analyzes the most recent census data to reveal where most Italian Americans live today. This is the first part of the report and will focus on New York City. Astoria, a neighborhood in Queens, is home to the largest Italian-American population in New York City: 15,418 people, to be specific.
Italians have been the largest ethnic group in Astoria for a while. The Irish and the Greeks also have a notable presence. Rossville, on the south coast of Staten Island, is the most Italian city in New York City, in terms of the percentage of residents who claim Italian descent. The San Gennaro festival is celebrated in Little Italy for 11 days during the month of September and is considered by many to be the oldest and most important festival in New York.
New York's Little Italy is currently being occupied by Chinatown and other neighborhoods and is getting smaller. Today, New York State has the largest population of Italian Americans in the United States, while Rhode Island and Connecticut have the highest overall percentages relative to their respective populations. Nowadays, there are large Italian districts in Brooklyn's Bensonhurst and Bay Ridge (locations for the movie Saturday Night Fever), Howard Beach and Ozone Park in Queens, Belmont in the Bronx and Staten Island (where 55% of residents are of Italian descent). The Italian Cultural Institute in New York presents events and exhibitions, as well as Italian language courses.
New York Italians is an organization dedicated to preserving and celebrating Italian culture through events, culinary programs, language classes and educational conferences. This was before New York Harbor and Baltimore became the preferred destinations for Italian immigrants. Attending one of New York's annual Italian festivals is a great way to experience traditional Italian culture (and celebrate it with Italian-Americans). While all of New York is famous for its pizza, it's never a bad idea to try the original recipe in the neighborhood where the first pizza restaurant opened at the University of California, the Scuola Italiana in Greenwich Village, which teaches Italian classes and presents a series of events focusing on Italian culture and history.
Bakeries, culture, downtown, events, food, free activities, history, Italian culture, Lower East Side, Manhattan, New York, New York, restaurants. Little Italy is now an extremely small neighborhood; however, it was originally populated by the first Italian immigrants who arrived in New York. There are few concentrations of Italians and Italian-Americans in many metropolitan areas of the United States, especially in the industrial cities of the Northeast and the Midwest. New Orleans, Louisiana, was the first place for Italians to immigrate to the United States in the 19th century, before Italy was a unified nation-state.
