Philadelphia was second only to New York City in the number of Italian immigrants who settled in the city. Italians from the north have been in Philadelphia since Colonial times, but it was not until mass immigration from the south during the 1870s and 1880s that Italians began to make their mark on the city. Immigrating from small towns in the Italian regions of Abruzzo, Basilicata, Calabria, Campania, Molise, Puglia, and Sicily, they faced discrimination, language barriers, the separation of family by thousands of miles, and work in unfamiliar trades. Facing such drastic changes in their lives head on, they persevered, establishing Italian neighborhoods and churches while weaving their customs into their new American lifestyles. Through the use of historic photographs, Italians of Philadelphia conveys the influence Italian immigrants had on the development of Philadelphia and how that spirit remains in the city today.
