The love that Americans have for Italy is evergreen and indisputable. The evidence is in our collective celebration of cosi italiano across America’s regions and ethnic backgrounds, and the fact that Italy is year-after-year the #1 destination abroad for American travelers. And, of course, there’s the stories we love to follow of Americans who immerse in Il Bel Paese, like Stanley Tucci, Frances Mayes, and Elizabeth Gilbert (even yours truly has lived in Italy on two occasions and written about these experiences extensively).

When we think of Italians in America, though, the image is of immigrants from the 20th century, fleeing poverty to establish a new identity that is part of the American melting pot. But America is not just a source of refuge for Italians from the previous centuries; it has been and continues to be a place for adventurous and romantic types to pursue a modernized version of the American Dream.