There was a historical trend of immigration of Italians into the U.S. state of Arkansas in the 19th and 20th centuries.
Austin Corbin, the owner of the Sunnyside Plantation in Chicot County, within the Arkansas Delta region, decided to employ Italians there during the post-Reconstruction period.
The Mayor of Rome, Don Emanuele Ruspoli, connected to Corbin, found potential employees who originated in Emilia-Romagna, Marche, and Veneto, convincing them to go to Sunnyside.
In November 1895 the ship docked in the United States, and the surviving passengers traveled onward to Sunnyside.
A descendant of these Italians, Libby Borgognoni, stated that 125 of them died during the first year of operations.