From the Mediterranean to Southeast Florida, 1896-1939 Antonietta Di Pietro Florida International University, [email protected]
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Florida International University FIU Digital Commons FIU Electronic Theses and Dissertations University Graduate School 11-8-2013 Italianità on Tour: From the Mediterranean to Southeast Florida, 1896-1939 Antonietta Di Pietro Florida International University, [email protected] DOI: 10.25148/etd.FI13120902 Follow this and additional works at: https://digitalcommons.fiu.edu/etd Part of the Cultural History Commons, and the European History Commons Recommended Citation Di Pietro, Antonietta, "Italianità on Tour: From the Mediterranean to Southeast Florida, 1896-1939" (2013). FIU Electronic Theses and Dissertations. 1003. https://digitalcommons.fiu.edu/etd/1003 This work is brought to you for free and open access by the University Graduate School at FIU Digital Commons. It has been accepted for inclusion in FIU Electronic Theses and Dissertations by an authorized administrator of FIU Digital Commons. For more information, please contact [email protected]. FLORIDA INTERNATIONAL UNIVERSITY Miami, Florida ITALIANITÀ ON TOUR: FROM THE MEDITERRANEAN TO SOUTHEAST FLORIDA, 1896-1939 A dissertation submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY in HISTORY by Antonietta Di Pietro 2013 To: Dean Kenneth G. Furton College of Arts and Sciences This dissertation, written by Antonietta Di Pietro, and entitled Italianità on Tour: From the Mediterranean to Southeast Florida, 1896-1939, having been approved in respect to style and intellectual content, is referred to you for judgment. We have read this dissertation and recommend that it be approved. _______________________________________ Pascale Becel _______________________________________ Gwyn Davies _______________________________________ Maria del Mar Logrono Narbona _______________________________________ Aurora Morcillo, Major Professor Date of Defense: November 8, 2013 The dissertation of Antonietta Di Pietro is approved. _______________________________________ Dean Kenneth G. Furton College of Arts and Sciences _______________________________________ Dean Lakshmi N. Reddi University Graduate School Florida International University, 2013 ii DEDICATION In memory of my father, Domenicantonio, who told me I could. To my husband Iser, who still does. iii ACKNOWLEDGMENTS I will always be thankful to my friend Christine Ardalan, who made this dissertation possible by reading and editing it in its entirety and always giving me confidence. Her support and friendship have been indispensable. I am grateful to Major Professor Aurora Morcillo for her inspiration. She invited me to look for signs, symbols, and data in and out of the archives, in the streets and the ocean, the Mediterranean Caribe of this work. Thanks to the members of my dissertation committee: Pascale Becel, Gwyn Davies, and Maria del Mar Logrono Narbona, who have supported and guided me; to Noble David Cook and Joseph Patrouch, who taught me how to become a historian, and to Darden Asbury Pyron, who taught me that historians must be good writers; to Sherry Johnson, who was always kind and helpful, and to Rebecca Friedman, Jenna Gibbs, Lara Kriegel, Alex Lichtenstein, Felice Lifshitz, Kenneth James Lipartito, Brian Peterson, Bianca Premo, Mark D. Szuchman, Victor Uribe, and all my friends at FIU—in particular, Julio Capó, Joseph Holbrook, Amanda Snyder, Paula de la Cruz Fernandez, and Hayat Kassab- Gresham —who constantly encouraged me. Special thanks to my mother, Angela, who gave me a book on the French Revolution when I was seven, planting the seed that would yield this dissertation, and to Lilly Cangemi, whose tales on the Ventennio fascista returned to my mind many times as I was writing. My sons Walter, Ivan, and Flavio are the reason why I started this adventure, and the reason why I brought it to conclusion. Grazie, è per voi. iv ABSTRACT OF THE DISSERTATION ITALIANITÀ ON TOUR: FROM THE MEDITERRANEAN TO SOUTHEAST FLORIDA, 1896-1939 by Antonietta Di Pietro Florida International University, 2013 Miami, Florida Professor Aurora Morcillo, Major Professor Italianità on Tour is a cultural history of Italian consciousness in Italy and Southeast Florida from 1896 to 1939. This dissertation examines literary works, folktales, folksongs, artworks, buildings and urban planning as imprints and cultural constructions of Italianità on both sides of the Atlantic, with a special emphasis on the transformations experienced on that journey. The real and/or imagined geo-cultural similarities between the Mediterranean and the Caribbean encouraged pioneers in Southeast Florida to conjure in their new setting an idea of Italianità, regardless of the presence of Italians in the area. Therefore, assessing Italianità, constitutes an important feature in understanding cultural constructions of identities in Miami and neighboring areas. This study, seeks to add Southeast Florida’s Caribbean-Italian identity to the existing scholarship on several Italian diaspora representations, whether from a cultural ethnic perspective or from a sense of national belonging. More generally, it will show that there was no quintessential Italian national culture, but only representations of it that élites in Italy and South Florida manufactured, and on the other hand, immigrants imagined and performed upon arrival to America. v TABLE OF CONTENTS CHAPTER PAGE INTRODUCTION: THE CONCEPT OF ITALIANITÀ ..................................................... 1 Casting: Italians or Paesani? ........................................................................................ 8 Scripting: Italianità in Italy and Southeast Florida ................................................... 13 Acting. Interpreting Italianità ................................................................................... 16 Conclusion ................................................................................................................. 19 1. ITALIANITÀ: DEVELOPING A TRADEMARK FOR THE NEW ITALIAN STATE, 1815-60 ............................................................................................................................. 28 Brothers Wanted for New Production: The Literati's Voice ..................................... 30 Subalterns Find Their Voices .................................................................................... 55 One Nation and Two Primedonne: Donna Turrita and Donna Lombarda ................ 62 Conclusion ................................................................................................................. 74 2. THE DEVELOPMENT OF THE CONCEPT OF ITALIANITÀ IN ITALY .............. 77 White but Divided, 1870-1900 .................................................................................. 82 Within the Child Lies the Fate of the Future, 1900-1915 ....................................... 100 A Nationalist Call to Italianità, 1915-1939 ............................................................. 107 Conclusion ............................................................................................................... 124 3. ITALIANS DISCOVER AMERICA AND ITALIANITÀ ........................................ 129 From a Little Village in Italy to the Little Italys in North America ........................ 132 Mapping the Italian Communities ........................................................................... 146 From Italian Regional Affiliation to Italian National Loyalty ................................ 157 Miami and Its Adjoining Neighborhoods ................................................................ 168 Conclusion ............................................................................................................... 170 4. FROM PICTURESQUE TO MAGIC ........................................................................ 173 Picturesque Miami ................................................................................................... 176 The New Mediterranean-Caribbean Frontier .......................................................... 185 Caribbean Undertow and Mediterranean Identity ................................................... 200 Conclusion ............................................................................................................... 203 5. ITALIANS IN MIAMI AND SOUTHEAST FLORIDA: FEW BUT SIGNIFICANT ......................................................................................................................................... 206 The Laborers ............................................................................................................ 210 New Courtiers and Aristocrats ................................................................................ 225 The Mediators .......................................................................................................... 227 The Teachers and the Learners ................................................................................ 231 The Musicians ......................................................................................................... 236 Vizcaya: a World of Artists, Stoneworkers, and Chauffeurs .................................. 237 Conclusion ............................................................................................................... 248 vi CONCLUSION ............................................................................................................... 252 BIBLIOGRAPHY ........................................................................................................... 259 VITA ..............................................................................................................................