If you've ever watched The Godfather, or any of the movies that depict Italian American life in the mid-twentieth century, you can picture this cultural stereotype: barrel-chested men with big bellies, grandmothers stirring giant pots of pasta, chain-smoking, hard-drinking families where every gathering is loud, passionate, and overflowing with meat, cheese, and wine.
Now, of course, Hollywood gets plenty wrong about immigrant life. But some of those background details weren't so far off. Big families living together, or right next door to one another. Tight-knit communities built around trust, loyalty, and church. People who loved to eat, laugh, and share life together.
