From the Back Cover
Illustrated with 100 vintage photos of Boston's North End and the people who made it their home, this book offers a heartfelt and fascinating view of one of the last intact Italian-American neighborhoods in the United States. Written to fulfill the wish of one North End elder, "so that people will never forget us," it is the result of many years of interviews with hundreds of Italian immigrants. At the turn of the last century these individuals left their rural homeland, carrying their Old World contadino customs and beliefs, and transformed the urban ghetto of Boston into a Little Italy.
Through vivid recollections spoken in their unique village idiom, these elderly storytellers bring to life the remarkable working history of Italian- immigrant men and women, their adaptation of old traditions and village lifestyle to their new urban surroundings, their assimilation into the American way of life, and their undying loyalty to family and community.
Together, this collection of images and oral histories clearly depict what the old neighborhood was like prior to the 1980s when the progression of urban development in the North End transformed the community, and life itself, forever.
Through vivid recollections spoken in their unique village idiom, these elderly storytellers bring to life the remarkable working history of Italian- immigrant men and women, their adaptation of old traditions and village lifestyle to their new urban surroundings, their assimilation into the American way of life, and their undying loyalty to family and community.
Together, this collection of images and oral histories clearly depict what the old neighborhood was like prior to the 1980s when the progression of urban development in the North End transformed the community, and life itself, forever.
About the Author
Anthony Riccio grew up in an old ethnic neighborhood of New Haven, Connecticut, where the constant hum of the local American Steel and Wire mill could be heard in the well-tended backyards of Italian immigrants. He returned to the ancestral villages of his grandparents while pursuing an M.A. from Syracuse University in Florence and photographed daily life in the rural villages of the south. He later became the director of the North End Senior Citizen Center in Boston, where he conducted oral-history interviews and photographed elderly Italian Americans of the North End neighborhood. He lives in Westbrook, Connecticut.
