History can often be learned from books. But nothing tops hearing about it from those who lived it. “Then we can pass it on and tell our next generation, this is what it’s all about being Italian or being American-Italian or American-Italian,” said Italian-American Gabriele Napolitano. The stories of many Italian-American families who immigrated to make their home in Rochester are being preserved.

“My mother came back to this country in 1968 and she died in this country,” Napolitano said. Thanks to Nazareth University students like Lia Bartolotta, they have been documenting the stories and traditions as part of an ongoing oral history project for the past two years, led by professor Timothy Kneeland and director Joelle Carota.