Rudolph Valentino’s story is out of the ordinary. He embodies success at its highest, the chance of reaching the top when doing it, everywhere else, is forbidden, unthinkable, a pure utopia. This is the very meaning many migrants gave to the American experience, and not without reason, considering the incredible personal goals many of them achieved.

Millions of paesani left with empty pockets and nothing to return to but, on the other side of the ocean, they met, thanks to their hard work, a life unimaginable even just one generation before. They made it despite the difficulties, and their stories created – through the collective word of mouth of those who had remained, who didn’t have the courage or the opportunity to sail across the ocean – the myth of “Merica.”