“I thought it was an easier life over here, which it was.” –Gabriel Bruno, born 1917 in Italy
The Italians who immigrated to Utah came primarily for economic opportunity, many of whom found work in Utah’s mines. Most of Utah’s Italians came through the immigration station at Ellis Island, New York, along with 12 million other immigrants over the station’s history. More than two million Italians immigrated to the US between 1900 and 1910. Even after the Immigration Act of 1924 restricted immigration, Italians were able to join their families in Utah through chain migration. Sometimes an established immigrant in the community called a padron acted as a broker to assist with immigration in exchange for a portion of the immigrant’s paycheck.
Joe Bonacci and family, Helper, Utah c. 1900. Marriott Library, Peoples of Utah Collection.
“We were people that didn’t waste anything.” –Mary Nicolovo Juliana, born in Italy
Life in Utah was not without its hardships. As Italian-Americans tried to establish themselves in a new country, Italian traditions and the resourcefulness of these immigrants helped them to make ends meet when money was scarce. Remo Spigarelli says, “I made a total of $55.03, and my take home pay was 54 cents, for two months!” At the age of 16, Spigarelli was responsible for his mother and five siblings. By growing potatoes and other foods in their garden, they were able to get by. Mary Nicolovo Juliana says of her mother, “When we come to this country she sewed all my dresses by hand, and she did beautiful work. My mother could do hem stitching by hand.”
