By Rosario Mariani

As a small boy in the 1950's, I remember passing by a shop in the piazza of my small town in Abruzzo and seeing the Rappresentante ("representative") sign. Obviously, I had no idea what it meant, but somehow I knew that when it was my turn to leave Italy, the gentleman inside would make it all happen.

When I was in the second grade, I remember my school teacher saying to the entire class: "Boys and girls, today we say good bye to our classmate Francesca, who is leaving us to immigrate to the United States." The scene repeated many times throughout the year, but the final destination changed often; sometimes it was Argentina, Canada, South Africa, Venezuela, Australia, and other countries as well.

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