As we usher in the Italian Heritage Month, dear readers, it’s our collective moment of reconnection, appreciation, and valorization of the cherished legacy that resonates in our surnames, the roots of our families, within the vibrant Italian-American communities that sustain our shared social identity, the language and dialects we’re acquainted with, the Piedmontese or Apulian phrases we utter with affection, the Venetian or Calabrian recipes that grace our Sunday luncheons, and the reminiscence of journeys that unveiled distant relatives or the homesteads and villages our valiant ancestors embarked from.

With no English, no funds, and no formal education, they braved the unknown to chase the American dream.