Many Italians came from the economically-strapped Mezzogiorno: Sicilia, Basilicata, Calabria, Campania, and other southern regions of Italy. They scrimped to save the thirty dollars to book passage to L’America, dove le strade erano lastricate d’oro, where roads were paved in gold.

As they prepared to leave, friends and family gathered in the piazza, weeping, embracing, promising to return. But, some would never go back. Half of those departing were single men, husbands and fathers, some leaving wives and babies behind. The other half were couples and families. They departed their homes by whatever means available, donkey and horse-drawn two-wheeled carts, buses and train.