In most peoples’ minds, the state of Connecticut has very WASPy (White Anglo Saxon Protestant) associations: Yale University; “lace-curtain” wealthy families; and a Yankee in King Arthur’s Court (courtesy of Mark Twain, who once lived in Hartford).

But did you know that, per capita and based on population, it is a state with the highest concentration of Italian Americans, even more so than in big, bad New York? As Ripley used to say, “Believe it or not!”