Italian American Culture_SP18

Beside the Banks of the Po

Giuseppe Gialdini was born on October 12, 1882 in Roccabianca, Emilia-Romagna. His parents were Enrico Gialdini and Anna Maria Antonietta Rizzi. His hometown was on the south bank of the Po, which I found to be particularly interesting in light of the discussions we had in class regarding the American immigration definition of what constitutes "Southern Italy." I do not know too much about young Giuseppe's life, aside from the fact that he had a three sisters (one of whom died as a toddler) and a brother (who died as a toddler as well) and that his mother died in 1894, when he would have been eleven or twelve.

His father remarried, and it seems that he was not the best of friends with his step-mother. According to my dad's cousin Martha, Giuseppe "ran away from home when he was fourteen because his parents wanted him to be a priest and he wanted to be a tailor." He found his way to Argentina, where he settled in the Santa Fe province. His departure in 1894 would have corresponded with the agricultural crisis that Italy was experiencing from 1887-1897.

The Gialdini family, as seen in the newspaper clipping, embodies Italian immigration. Giuseppe lived in Argentina before moving to the United States, his sister lived in Argentina, then Brazil, and finally the United States (and in different cities within the U.S., at that), and the third sister resided in the French Riviera. This single example demonstrates not only the Italian diaspora, but also the diaspora with a single nuclear Italian family.

One last thing of interest to note: throughout the documents that I found, Giuseppe's name changes in accordance to the language's standards. He transforms from Giuseppe to Jose to Joseph and ultimately back to Giuseppe. 

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