Italians in New York City

New York City has the largest population of Italian Americans in the United States as well as North America, many of whom inhabit ethnic enclaves in Brooklyn, the Bronx, Manhattan, Queens, and Staten Island.

New York is home to the third largest Italian population outside of Italy, behind Buenos Aires, Argentina (first) and São Paulo, Brazil (second).

A 1993 survey of historians, political scientists and urban experts conducted by Melvin G. Holli of the University of Illinois at Chicago saw La Guardia ranked as the best American big-city mayor to serve between the years 1820 and 1993.

A small wave of Protestants, known as Waldensians, who were of French and northern Italian heritage (specifically Piedmontese), occurred during the 17th century, with the majority coming between 1654 and 1663.

The remaining 25% consisted mainly of low-income white-collar workers like peddlers and barbers, along with shopkeepers running neighborhood grocery stores.

Their weekly earnings in manufacturing and mining (for the entire national economy) in 1909 came to $9.61 (equal to $333.36 USD in 2024), compared to $13.63 for German immigrants and $11.06 for Poles.

Every year on the second weekend of August, the Feast of Our Lady of Mount Carmel is celebrated and the "Dancing of the Giglio" is performed for thousands of visitors.

[13] The Italian international private school La Scuola d'Italia Guglielmo Marconi, serving grades Pre-Kindergarten through 12, is located in Manhattan.

Despite the large Italian American population, the vast majority of bilingual day schools in North America are French speaking.