A Slice of Sicily

Riverfront statue dedicated to New Orleans Italian immigrant community

Italian Immigrants arrived in the 1880s

Early jazz leader Nick LaRocca

The Muffuletta, a New Orleans classic

The majority of Italian immigrants in New Orleans are from Sicily and started to arrive in large numbers in the 1880s to escape a homeland, that had fallen into a corrupt, dangerous, and unlawful state. They arrived in a city where previous Italian immigrants had already established a decent-sized community, dating back to the French era. In fact, the Italian-born Henri de Tonti, as part of a French expedition, explored Louisiana even before New Orleans existed and later became a leader in the fledgling colony. A street named Tonti still exists in the city.

The Italians began social clubs and benevolent organizations as other ethnic groups in New Orleans did. The oldest group began before the Civil War, but more and more formed with the wave of Sicilian immigrants during the last part of the 19th century. These organizations were often linked to a specific region in Italy to preserve customs among members and helped provide a support network for new arrivals. Many Italians settled in run-down apartments of the French Quarter, which, for a while, was locally known as “Little Italy.”

The Italians, like other poor immigrants, were met with discrimination and suspicion from locals. Tension particularly existed between them and the Irish, who immigrated decades earlier and were more established in the city. In 1890, many New Orleanians blamed the murder of a Police Chief David Hennessey on Italian immigrants, and over a hundred men were arrested in a sweep, but most were soon released. After a trial of several suspects led to acquittals, a mob stormed the jail and murdered eleven Italians. The lynchings made news worldwide, and pressure from Italy led the US government to pay reparations to the families of the murdered. For years and years after, the Italians of New Orleans were harassed by taunts of “Who killa the chief?”

Over the decades, however, Italians became integrated into New Orleans culture and society. The Sicilian tradition of building elaborate St. Joseph’s Day altars is now a New Orleans tradition. The city has had two Italian-American mayors, Robert Maestri and Victor Schiro. An obvious homegrown Italian contribution to the cuisine of the Crescent City is the muffuletta, a hearty sandwich of salami and provolone topped with a distinctive olive salad. Muffulettas, found at delis across the country, originated at Central Grocery on Decatur St. in the Quarter, a store still selling them to this day. Progresso, a national brand known for its soups, began as the Italian-owned Progressive Foods in New Orleans.

Nick LaRocca was an important Italian-American jazz musician at the birth of the genre, while New Orleans-born Louis Prima became a prominent singer and trumpeter during the swing era. The elegant Hotel Monteleone, first established by a Sicilian shoemaker, is a landmark in the French Quarter and is still run by the Monteleone family generations later.

Points of Interest

Angelo Brocato's

Exhibit, American Italian Renaissance Foundation Museum & Library

Piazza d'Italia

Central Grocery

Angelo Brocato’s
214 N. Carrollton Avenue
www.angelobrocatoicecream.com

An establishment over 100 years old, Angelo Brocato’s dishes out authentic Italian ice cream from old Sicilian recipes and serves other Italian desserts as well, from biscotti to cannolis. It’s now operating in Mid-City, but look at the letters embedded in the sidewalk in front the bakery at 617 Ursulines to discover its former location from when the French Quarter was known as “Little Italy.”

American Italian Renaissance Foundation Museum & Library
537 S. Peters
522-7294
www.airf.org

Anyone wishing to explore the role of Italians in shaping New Orleans history needs to drop by this museum. Exhibits teach about Italian-American Mardi Gras organizations, opera stars, jazz musicians, St. Joseph Day altars, and more. Genealogists and historians are welcome to conduct research in the museum’s archives.

The Piazza d’Italia
On Tchoupitoulas St. near Poydras St. (behind the American Italian Renaissance Foundation)

The Piazza d’Italia serves as a monument to the Italians of New Orleans and their contributions to the city. This plaza is reminiscent of a traditional Italian piazza with fluted columns and flowing fountains, but its colorful modern flair makes it a gem of contemporary architecture.

Central Grocery
923 Decatur St.
523-1620

This is the shop where the muffuletta, the celebrated New Orleans sandwich, first started in 1906. Central Grocery still makes fresh muffulettas daily and also offers Italian imported products hard to find elsewhere.

Italian restaurants

With so many Italian immigrants having settled in New Orleans, it’s no wonder that the city is scattered with many fine Italian restaurants. Italian cuisine has also exerted an influence on modern French Creole cooking.