For many, the term “Italian American” evokes images of Italian enclaves in metropolitan areas throughout the east coast, the Midwest, and northern California, to name a few. Literary works such as Miss Giardino, Christ in Concrete, and The Fortunate Pilgrim constitute celebrated representations of the Italian immigrant’s work ethic and ability to endure xenophobia and extreme poverty in order to attain social and economic ascension in early twentieth-century America.

But what is meant by “America”? The word has erroneously become synonymous with the United States, and not the entirety of the American continent. Scholars of Italian America often restrict their vision and the purview of their research to the Italian experience within the USA, thereby neglecting the history, the establishment, and the notable cultural contributions of sizable Italian communities in Brazil, Argentina, and Uruguay, among others.