by Alfonso Guerriero, Jr.

Waves of Italian immigrants embarked on steamships during the late nineteenth century and arrived on the shores of America to escape from Italy's natural disasters, political instability, famine and disease. Many decided to leave their homeland and journey across the Atlantic, under arduous traveling conditions in the steerage section of steamships, just for a better life.

As they arrived on Ellis Island to be processed before being allowed to settle in the "land of milk and honey," many Italian immigrants already had family members living on the Lower East Side. One of the areas designated for Italian immigrants settling in New York City in the 1880s to 1900s became Mulberry Street, part of Little Italy.

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Fonte: L'italo-Americano