If you're a Louisiana native with a distinctly Italian last name, you've got lots of company here. Since the late nineteenth century, more families of Sicilian descent have called Louisiana home than anywhere else in the world except Sicily.

This is a topic that has fascinated Loyola history professor, Justin Nystrom – enough to compel him to record their history and influence here in his 2018 book, Creole Italian: Sicilian Immigrants and the Shaping of New Orleans Food Culture.