From 1900 to WWI, 4 million Italians, most from southern rural areas, emigrated to America to escape poverty and sickness (pellagra, cholera). The Commissariat of Emigration, created in 1901, helped them at the point of embarkation and after they arrived, including dealing with U.S. labor laws that discriminated against alien workers. Immigrants sent money home, accounting for as much as 5% of Italy’s economy. Read more about Italian-Americans in Tazia and Gemma (see NOVELS).
