Journey of Discovery - Italy: Then, Now & Always
September 16, 2026
At this monthly membership dinner meeting, Napa Lodge #2043 deviated from its usual Culture Spotlight format: lecture, presentation or trivia competition. Instead, a scavenger hunt was set in motion with simple instructions:
- Search for eight items in the room with our sleuth lion on them
- Write down the items in the discovery passport provided.
- Work individually, as a couple or in teams.
- When all eight items are found, figure out what they have in common.
- Show your completed passport to Culture Chair Holly Delucchi for part 2 of the endeavor.
- Select one of four questions on the new handout provided.
- Discuss and write down a brief response to one of the reflective questions.
Eight artifacts, or photo representations of them, were dispersed throughout the room with accompanying one-page write-ups that told a little more about their significance. Read on to find out or rediscover the eight items.
Luggage Vignette
Artifact(s): Modern suitcase with rollers and telescopic handle; soft, nylon duffle bag; and small leather backpack.
Write Up: WHAT WOULD YOU TAKE WITH YOU?
The luggage you see here is familiar to the modern traveler. They're lightweight, portable and designed to make travel easier. For millions of Italians who left their homeland during the great immigration era, luggage meant something very different.
Between the 1880s and 1920, more than 4 million Italians came to the U.S. Many were farmers and laborers from southern Italy and Sicily, leaving communities where poverty and limited opportunity made America seem to offer the possibility of a better life.
THEY CARRIED WHAT THEY COULD
There were no wheeled suitcases, lightweight synthetic bags or backpacks designed for comfortable travel. Immigrants' belongings might be packed into trunks, boxes, carpetbags, satchels, baskets, sacks or bundles tied with cloth. Historical photographs from Ellis Island show newcomers surrounded by the possessions they had managed to bring across the Atlantic.
What went inside depended upon the individual and the journey. Clothing and other necessities competed for limited space with the personal possessions a traveler considered important enough to carry thousands of miles.
Their baggage wasn't simply packed for a vacation. For those intending to remain in America, it contained the pieces of one life that could be carried into another.
THEN AND NOW
Now look again at the luggage displayed here. A modern traveler can pull a suitcase effortlessly through an airport, sling a duffle over a shoulder and carry a backpack onto an airplane. We travel knowing that another shirt, toothbrush or forgotten necessity can usually be purchased when we arrive.
For an immigrant arriving at Ellis Island a century ago, baggage was important enough that the immigration station eventually included an entire building devoted partly to handling and storing it. After inspection, immigrants might continue by ferry and railroad to destinations hundreds or thousands of miles farther into America.
The difference is more than old luggage versus new luggage. It is the difference between two kinds of journeys. Today, we pack for where we're going.
Many Italian immigrants packed while wondering when, or whether, they would ever see home again.
Travel Documents
Artifact(s): Passenger airfare boarding passes and passports.
Write Up: PAPERS, PLEASE: ENTERING AMERICA AROUND 1900
An Italian immigrant arriving in America around 1900 did not encounter the visa system we know today. But that didn't mean immigrants simply walked off the ship and entered the country. Their identities, backgrounds, health and ability to enter were examined before they were admitted.
PASSPORT AND TRAVEL PAPERS
Italian emigrants could carry passports or other identification issued in Italy. By the early 20th century, Italy increasingly regulated emigration and the documents required of people leaving the country. Passports were therefore important travel documents, but they were only one part of the immigration process.
THE SHIP'S MANIFEST
One of the most important documents wasn't carried in the immigrant's pocket at all. Before sailing, steamship companies recorded information about their passengers on a ship's manifest, or passenger list. By the Ellis Island era, manifests could record a traveler's name, age, occupation, nationality, last residence and intended destination in America. At Ellis Island, immigration inspectors questioned newcomers and compared their answers with the information recorded on the manifest.
INSPECTION AT ELLIS ISLAND
Immigrants traveling in steerage through the Port of New York generally underwent medical and legal inspections at Ellis Island. Officials wanted to determine whether each person met U.S. immigration requirements. Immigrants could be questioned about their destination, occupation, family connections and financial circumstances. Most were admitted. Others required additional questioning before a decision was made.
A PAPER TRAIL THAT SURVIVES
For the immigrant, these documents were part of the process of entering a new country. For their descendants, they have become something else: a record of a family's journey.
More than a century later, surviving passenger manifests, passports, steamship tickets, naturalization papers and other documents can reveal where an ancestor came from, when they traveled and sometimes even whom they were joining in America. The National Park Service specifically identifies these kinds of family documents as valuable starting points for genealogical research.
A piece of paper once needed for a journey can become a link between generations.
The Voyage
Artifact(s): Photo of steamship at sea.
Write Up: BETWEEN TWO WORLDS
For Italian immigrants leaving for America around 1900, the journey itself was part of the immigration experience. Most departed from ports such as Naples, Genoa and Palermo, boarding steamships that carried hundreds, sometimes more than a thousand, passengers across the Atlantic. For those traveling in steerage, the least expensive class, the crossing offered few comforts.
LIFE BELOW DECK
A voyage from Italy to America typically took about two weeks, although travel times varied by ship, route and weather. Steerage accommodations were crowded and offered little privacy. Passengers slept in shared quarters, often in rows of bunks. Ventilation and sanitation could be poor, washing facilities were limited, and seasickness made an already uncomfortable journey more difficult.
Meals were simple. Personal space was scarce. And for days, there was nothing around them but the Atlantic Ocean.
Yet life continued aboard ship. Passengers talked, prayed, cared for children and formed temporary communities with people who were making the same uncertain journey. For some, it may also have been the first time they encountered Italians from regions far beyond their own village or province, hearing unfamiliar dialects from a country that had only recently become a unified nation.
WHAT WERE THEY THINKING?
Imagine what those two weeks must have represented. Behind them was Italy: family, friends, familiar streets, language, traditions and everything they understood as home.
Ahead of them was America: work, opportunity and perhaps relatives who had already made the journey, but also a language and country many had never experienced. Returning home was neither quick nor simple if things didn’t work out, with yet another long journey across the Atlantic.
SOMEWHERE IN THE ATLANTIC ...
There must have been a moment when the Italian coastline had disappeared and America was still days away. They were no longer where they had been. They had not yet reached where they were going.
For millions of immigrants, the Atlantic wasn't simply an ocean they crossed. It was the space between one life and the next.
The Arrival
Artifact(s): Photo of the Statue of Liberty and Ellis Island.
Write Up: A FIRST GLIMPSE OF AMERICA
Imagine spending days, perhaps weeks, crossing the Atlantic aboard a crowded steamship. You have left behind your home, community and perhaps family members. You may know little English. You don't know exactly what awaits you. And then, as your ship enters New York Harbor, something appears on the horizon: The Statue of Liberty.
For millions of immigrants arriving in the United States, that first glimpse became a powerful symbol. The statue had been dedicated in 1886, just as the great wave of Italian immigration to America was beginning. Between the 1880s and 1920, more than 4 million Italians came to the United States. Many entered through the Port of New York.
BUT THE JOURNEY WASN'T OVER
Beginning in 1892, many immigrants arriving in New York were processed at Ellis Island. There, newcomers underwent medical and legal inspections before being permitted to enter the country. For most, the process was relatively brief. For others, questions about health, finances or eligibility could mean additional examinations, detention or, in a small percentage of cases, being sent back. Imagine coming so far and still not knowing whether you would be allowed to stay. Families waited. Names were called. Questions were asked. And beyond Ellis Island was America.
WHAT CAME NEXT?
For some Italian immigrants, New York became home. Others continued by train to cities and towns across the United States, joining relatives, finding work and establishing new communities. They brought more than the belongings they could carry. They brought language, food, faith, music, traditions, craftsmanship and a powerful attachment to family and community. Those traditions took root in America and evolved as succeeding generations became Italian Americans. Organizations such as the Order Sons and Daughters of Italy in America, founded in 1905 by Italian immigrants in New York, eventually became part of that story. More than a century later, we are part of the story, too.
LOOK AT THE IMAGE AGAIN
We can never know exactly what each immigrant thought as New York Harbor came into view. Excitement? Fear? Relief? Homesickness? Hope? Probably some combination of them all. But for millions of people, the shoreline ahead represented the end of one extraordinary journey ... and the beginning of another.
Immigrant Labor
Artifact(s): Work Gloves and Vintage Photos of Laborers
Write Up: LIFE FOR ITALIAN IMMIGRANTS FINDING WORK IN 1900
In 1900, Italian immigrants arriving in the United States faced a mix of opportunity and hardship. Employment was largely shaped by their skills, gender and the economic needs of growing American cities.
Where they came from and why they came: By the late 19th century, widespread poverty affected many parts of Italy, particularly the rural south and Sicily. Limited economic opportunity, agricultural hardship and poor living conditions encouraged many to leave. From 1890-1900, more than 650,000 Italians arrived in the U.S., about two-thirds of them men.
Arrival and initial challenges: Many immigrants crossed the Atlantic in steerage, enduring crowded conditions and limited comforts. Those entering through Ellis Island underwent medical and legal inspections. Many newcomers were single men seeking work, while others arrived with families. Some intended to earn money in America and eventually return to Italy.
Types of work: Many Italian immigrants found unskilled or manual labor in rapidly growing cities. Common occupations included:
- Construction and infrastructure: Building railroads, roads, sewers and subways.
- Garment industry: Sewing, laundry and other labor-intensive work, often in large cities.
- Public works: Municipal and other laboring jobs in cities (like New York and Chicago).
- Farming: Some immigrants settled in rural communities and worked farms or small plots of land.
Italian laborers often worked long hours for low wages, sometimes under dangerous or exploitative conditions. Competition for jobs could create tensions with other immigrant groups. Italians also encountered discrimination, prejudice and hostility as they tried to establish themselves in American society.
Community and support: Immigrants often formed close-knit “Little Italy” neighborhoods, relying on relatives, fellow immigrants and padrones, or labor brokers, to help find work. Family labor was important, and economic necessity sometimes took priority over children's education.
Outlook: The work available to Italian immigrants was frequently low-paying and physically demanding, but it offered the possibility of earning money, supporting family members and building a new life. Some immigrants eventually returned to Italy. Those who remained established families and businesses and helped build thriving Italian American communities.
Their labor helped build America's roads, railways and cities. Their determination helped build Italian America.
Welcome, We're Open!
Artifact(s): Collage photography of Italian-inspired enterprises
Write Up: MORE THAN A BUSINESS
As Italian immigrants established new lives in America, they did more than find jobs. They opened businesses of their own. Grocers, bakeries, restaurants, delicatessens, barbers, shoemakers, wineries and other small businesses became part of Italian-American neighborhoods across the country. Some served primarily fellow immigrants at first. Over time, many became part of the larger communities around them. The Italian presence in America was no longer found only inside immigrant homes. It could be seen on the signs outside in public spaces.
FROM IMMIGRANT TO ENTREPRENEUR
Starting a business offered Italian immigrants and their descendants an opportunity to support their families, become economically independent and put skills brought from Italy to work in their new country. Food became one of the most visible expressions of that experience. The neighborhood grocery, bakery, deli or restaurant wasn't simply someplace to buy something to eat. Such businesses could become gathering places where familiar foods, language and traditions helped connect people to the places they had left behind.
Eventually, something remarkable happened. Foods once associated primarily with Italian immigrant communities became American favorite foods, too. Pizza, pasta, ravioli, salami, Italian breads and countless regional specialties moved far beyond Italian neighborhoods and became familiarly mainstream throughout the country.
AND HERE IN NAPA ...
Look again at the business signs displayed with this story. They're not photographs from New York's Little Italy a century ago. They're from our own community, demonstrating different ways old-world Italian traditions became woven into Napa's local identity. Some businesses are old. Others are relatively new. Some announce their Italian identity immediately. Others reflect how thoroughly Italian food and culture have become part of everyday American life.
SIGNS OF SOMETHING LARGER
An Italian business sign can tell us more than what's for sale inside. It can represent family, entrepreneurship, adaptation, community and cultural continuity.
The immigrants who arrived in America had to create new lives for themselves. Their children and grandchildren continued that process, combining traditions inherited from Italy with the opportunities and influences they encountered here. That story happened in New York, Boston, Chicago and San Francisco.
And it happened here in Napa, too.
Say Cheese
Artifact(s): Vintage Family Photos of Culture Chair Holly Delucchi
Write Up: WHO CAME BEFORE US?
The photographs you see here aren't from an archive or history book. They belong to the family of one of our own Napa Lodge members.
Every Italian-American family has its own story. Some know exactly where their ancestors came from, when they arrived and why they left Italy. For others, pieces of that story have been lost with time. What often remains are photographs.
A face. A name written on the back. A wedding portrait. A family gathering. A photograph carefully framed and passed from one generation to another.
MORE THAN A PHOTOGRAPH
For the people who came before us, having a portrait made was often something special. These photographs weren't taken casually and forgotten. They were kept, displayed and handed down. Today, they give us something remarkable: the chance to look into the faces of people whose decisions helped shape the generations that followed.
They remind us that immigration isn't only a story of ships, Ellis Island, jobs and statistics. It is a story of individual people and individual families.
WHAT REMAINS OF YOUR FAMILY’S STORY?
Do you know the names of your Italian ancestors? Do you know where in Italy they lived? Who came to America first? What did they do when they arrived? What traditions did they pass down? And perhaps just as important: Who in your family and among your loved ones knows those stories today?
Family history can disappear surprisingly quickly when stories aren't shared. Photographs such as these invite us to ask questions while there are still people who may know the answers and are willing to share them.
THE STORY CONTINUES
Our ancestors could not have known where their journeys would ultimately lead. But generations later, their photographs remain. Their traditions remain. Their names and stories remain if we choose to preserve them. Italian-American history isn't only something we read about. It's family history.
And every family photograph may hold a piece of it.
Always Fashion Forward
Artifact(s): Photo of Leather Italian Kicks
Write Up: ITALY TODAY: TRADITION IN STEP WITH THE TIMES
Look around the streets of Milan, Rome, Florence or Naples today and you’ll see something that might surprise earlier generations of Italians: sneakers are everywhere.
Once considered primarily athletic or casual footwear, sneakers have become part of contemporary Italian style. They are worn with jeans, of course, but also with tailored trousers, skirts, dresses and jackets. The look reflects a distinctly Italian idea: comfort and modernity do not have to mean giving up style.
Italy remains one of the world’s great centers of fashion and design, but Italian style is constantly evolving. Contemporary Italian style mixes traditional craftsmanship with international influences, streetwear and a more relaxed way of dressing. Classic, low-profile sneakers and retro-inspired designs have become especially popular, often appearing in leather, suede and canvas.
And Italy has its own sneaker heritage. Superga, founded in Turin more than a century ago, became famous for its simple canvas tennis shoe. Today, Italian designers range from heritage shoemakers to some of the biggest luxury fashion houses in the world, many of which have embraced sneakers as part of modern Italian dress.
The shoes pictured here take that evolution one step further. Their green, white and red make an unmistakable reference to the Italian flag, combining national identity with a thoroughly contemporary form.
WHAT DOES THIS TELL US ABOUT ITALY TODAY?
Modern Italy is not frozen in the traditions that parents, grandparents and great-grandparents remember.
It still values craftsmanship, quality, beauty and bella figura, the importance of presenting oneself well. But those traditions continue to change with each generation.
Italy honors its past without necessarily dressing like it.
And perhaps that is part of what makes Italian culture endure: the style changes, but the Italian identity remains.
Italy: Then, Now & Always
Common Theme: The journey of Italian culture and identity: from Italy to America and across generations.
Upon completion of the Discovery Passport, participants were encouraged to select one of four questions for reflect upon the journey.
1. THE ITALY THEY LEFT
Would You Leave?
It’s 1905. You’re 24. Work is scarce and your family is struggling. A relative in America says there is work waiting for you, but getting there will consume most of your savings. You speak no English and don’t know when you’ll see your family again. Would you go? Why or why not?
2. THE AMERICA THEY FOUND
What Would Be Hardest?
You’ve arrived in America with little money and limited English. Work is physically demanding, your customs are unfamiliar to your neighbors, and some Americans don’t particularly want you here. What do you think would be hardest to overcome?
3. THE AMERICA THEY BUILT
What Would You Build?
You’ve been in America for 10 years. You’ve saved some money, learned English and established a family. If you could create one thing to make life better for the next Italian family arriving, what would it be?
4. WHAT THEY CARRIED FORWARD
What Would You Carry Forward?
More than a century has passed. Italy has changed. America has changed. Italian American life has changed. If you could preserve just one part of Italian or Italian American culture for another 100 years, what would it be, and why?
Visit this page again soon. We will post submissions to these questions from participants in the near future.