Italian Americans

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Italian Americans are people of Italian descent living in the United States.

Most of the Italian immigrants came from the southern regions of the country, such as Puglia, Calabria, Campania and above all Sicily, a large area for which the term Mezzogiorno also stands today. About a quarter of the emigrants returned to Italy after a certain period of time.

The first major group of Italian immigrants (150 Italian Protestants) settled in New Amsterdam (now New York City) as early as 1657.

Then, in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, the majority of Italian immigrants came to the United States. Between 1820 and 1978, a total of 5.3 million Italians immigrated. Today, their descendants make up about 6% of the U.S. population, with more than 17 million, but fewer than 1 million Italian Americans speak Italian as their native language (0.3% of the total population, as of 2009). Of these native speakers, in turn, only 28% are proficient in English. Italian Americans thus constitute the third largest European immigrant group in the United States, behind Germans and the Irish. The majority of Italians settled in the major cities of New England, New Jersey, New York, Pennsylvania, Illinois, Indiana, Louisiana and California.

The Little Italy neighborhood of Manhattan, New York City, circa 1900.

Percentage of Italian Americans on Staten Island 2000

Percentage of people of Italian descent in the United States and Canada

Known Italian Americans

Politicians and Chief Justices

Samuel Alito (* 1950)
Mario Cuomo (1932-2015)
Andrew Cuomo (* 1957)
Geraldine Ferraro (1935-2011)
Rudolph Giuliani (* 1944)
Eric Garcetti (* 1971)
Ella T. Grasso (1919-1981)
Fiorello LaGuardia (1882-1947)
Janet Napolitano (* 1957)
William Paca (1740-1799)
Leon Panetta (* 1938)
Nancy Pelosi (* 1940)
Mike Pompeo (* 1963)
Gina Raimondo (* 1971)
Caesar Rodney (1728-1784)
Nicola Sacco (1891-1927)
Rick Santorum (* 1958)
Antonin Scalia (1936-2016)
Alfred E. Smith (1873-1944)
Bartolomeo Vanzetti (1888-1927)

Actors and directors

Anne Bancroft (1931-2005)
Steve Buscemi (* 1957)
Nicolas Cage (* 1964, Nicholas Kim Coppola)
Francesco "Frank" Capra (1897-1991)
Richard S. Castellano (1933-1988)
Francis Ford Coppola (* 1939)
Robert De Niro (* 1943)
Brian De Palma (* 1940)
Danny DeVito (* 1944)
Leonardo DiCaprio (* 1974)
Bradley Cooper (* 1975)
Ashley Judd (* 1968)
Susan Sarandon (* 1946)
Rudolph Valentino (1895-1926)
Gina Philips (* 1970)
Jason Biggs (* 1978)
Peter Facinelli (* 1973)
James Gandolfini (1961-2013)
Ariana Grande (* 1993)
Anjelica Huston (* 1951)
Joe Mantegna (* 1947)
Justin Long (* 1978)
Alyssa Milano (* 1972)
Vincente Minnelli (1903-1986)
Sal Mineo (1939-1976)
Al Pacino (* 1940)
Joe Pesci (* 1943)
Leah Remini (* 1970)
Kelly Ripa (* 1970)
Larry Romano (* 1963)
Ray Romano (* 1957)
Vincent Schiavelli (1948-2005)
Martin Scorsese (* 1942)
Brooke Shields (* 1965)
Tony Sirico (* 1942)
Vincent Spano (* 1962)
Sylvester Stallone (* 1946)
Quentin Tarantino (* 1963)
Marisa Tomei (* 1964)
John Travolta (* 1954)
Stanley Tucci (* 1960)
John Turturro (* 1957)
Bobby Cannavale (* 1970)
Maria Bello (* 1967)
Paul Giamatti (* 1967)
Ellen Pompeo (* 1969)
Lou Ferrigno (* 1951)
Rene Russo (* 1954)
Mark Ruffalo (* 1967)
Liv Tyler (* 1977)

Musician and entertainer

Tony Bennett (* 1926, Anthony Dominick Benedetto)
Jon Bon Jovi (* 1962, John Francis Bongiovi jr. )
Sonny Bono (1935-1998)
Chris Botti (* 1962)
John Frusciante (* 1970)
Lady Gaga (* 1986, Stefani Germanotta)
Michael Giacchino (* 1967)
Madonna (* 1958, Madonna Louise Ciccone)
David Mancuso (1944-2016)
Dean Martin (1917-1995, Dino Crocetti)
Liza Minnelli (* 1946)
Gwen Stefani (* 1969)
Ariana Grande (* 1993)
Mario Lanza (1921-1959)
Louis Prima (1910-1978)
Frank Sinatra (1915-1998)
Marc Terenzi (* 1978)
Steven Tyler (* 1948, Stephen Victor Tallarico)
Steven Van Zandt (* 1950)
Frank Zappa (1940-1993)

Author

Mario Puzo (1920-1999)
Pietro di Donato (1911-1992)

Athlete

Joe DiMaggio (1914-1999)
Jake LaMotta (1922-2017)
Rocky Marciano (1923-1969)
Mike Eruzione (* 1954)
Mike Modano (* 1970)
Vince Lombardi (1913-1970)
Mark Calcavecchia (* 1960)
Alexa Bliss (* 1991)

Entrepreneur

Domingo Ghirardelli (1817-1894)
Robert Mondavi (1913-2008)
Bob Guccione (1930-2010)
Dennis Tito (* 1940)
Gil Amelio (* 1943)
Fred DeLuca (1947-2015)
Robert Nardelli (* 1948)
Louis Rossetto (* 1949)
Paul Otellini (1950-2017)

Other

Francis Xaviera Cabrini (1850-1917), nun and saint
Enrico Fermi (1901-1954), nuclear physicist
Andrew J. Viterbi (* 1935), electrical engineer and computer scientist
Walter Schirra (1923-2007), astronaut
Dominic A. Antonelli (* 1967), astronaut
Charles Camarda (* 1952), astronaut
Michael James Massimino (* 1962), astronaut
Richard Mastracchio (* 1960), astronaut
Ronald A. Parise (1951-2008), astronaut
Mario Runco (* 1952), astronaut
Albert Sacco (* 1949), astronaut
Nicole Passonno Stott (* 1962), astronaut
Anthony Fauci (* 1940), immunologist
Jay Leno (* 1950), comedian and television host
Jimmy Kimmel (* 1967), comedian and television host
Al Capone (1899-1947), mobster
Lucky Luciano (1897-1962), Mobster
Frank Costello (1891-1973), mobster
Vito Genovese (1897-1969), mobster
John Gotti (1940-2002), mobster

Questions and Answers

Q: What is an Italian American?

A: An Italian American is a U.S. citizen of Italian descent, either born in the United States with Italian parents or grandparents, or someone born in Italy who moved to the United States.

Q: How many Italians moved to the United States between 1900 and 1914?

A: Two million Italians moved to the United States between 1900 and 1914.

Q: How many Italian Americans were counted by the government in 2000?

A: In 2000, the government counted 15.6 million Italian Americans in the United States. This means that for every 1000 Americans, 56 of them were Italian Americans.

Q: What have been some important contributions made by Italian Americans?

A: Many great politicians, inventors, scientists, soldiers, musicians and film makers (actors and directors) have been of Italian American descent and have contributed greatly to building up the United States.

Q: Where do most of these Italians come from?

A: Most of these Italians come from southern Italy such as Sicily, Naples and Calabria; only a sizeable minority have ancestral roots in Northern Italy.

Q: Which cities are home to large populations of Italian-Americans?

A: New York City has more than 3 million Italians living there or near it; other states with large populations include New Jersey, Pennsylvania, California, Florida and Massachusetts; Chicago, Boston Philadelphia Detroit Ohio each also have over a half million Italians living there as well.