Rutland Daily Herald from Rutland, Vermont • 17

i ly Vi nr 1 section 3 inday Rutland Herald end The Social- The Suxtay Suxtay Tim Argw Stay SIWS Vermont Italians: i Unique And Proud ByPHILPUGLIESE Italians perhaps the most totally and successfully assimilated of Vermonts national minorities have yet managed to maintain a sense of independence and pride that singles them out In virtually every field of endeavor in Vermont as In the nation are Italian-Americans who have become leaders In the fields of law medicine publishing business enterprise and scholarly pursuits Vermonts Italian citizens have prospered and the states society has prospered as well by the association Yet even so the Italian neighborhoods and communities which still exist in many Vermont cities and towns attest to the Italian sense of community the feeling of identity and comradeship which has been maintained It is impossible for example to walk through Rutlands gut the western section of that city where Italians traditionally lived up until the last few decades and not feel even today the remnants of a closer-knit society The same is true of Barre where the Italian cultural heritage abounds But from the beginning Vermonts Italians were different than other immigrants for many reasons First most came from the north of Italy and were light-skinned Most also were skilled artisans who carried their hammers chisels and drills with them and were ready to go to work immediately Perhaps imost importantly they could go into business for themselves if 'jobs were lacking These stonecutters or scalpellinos began to arrive in Barre Rutland and other areas of Vermont in the 1880s and 1890s coming just after a large immigration of Scotch stone workers There was little antagonism between the Italians and Scots Ibecause their views were similar centering around hard work family and mutual help associations The Northern Italians who came to Vermont were long accustomed to leaving their homes to work in France and other European nations and some looked upon Vermont as just another working place from which they would return home after the working season Most found the Vermont climate mountains and working conditions pleasant and opted to stay some returning briefly to marry and others sending for their families The new arrivals although finding little antipathy toward their presence settled in a small enclave in the north end sec- tion of Barre in the western valley section of Rutland and in similar Little Italies in other cities The Italians tendency to form distinct communities was partly due to the language difference but more because of their political experiences in Italy The long political disunity of that nation had caused its citizens to form small groups such as the Mutuo Soccorso Societa to take care of community needs usually provided bv governments Wh Came Barre qiCky frmed baSebaU teams beCause they wanted 40 assimilate th American culture Even in 1909 baseball was on its way to fortable in the austere Catholic churches they found in Vermont and could not understand the sermons in English This combined with an already anti-clerical feeling caused many Italians to turn away from the Vermont Catholic church to Methodist and Baptist Congregationalist missionary groups which helped the new arrivals to get settled and welcomed them where the Catholic church had not The tide of Italian immigration to Vermont reached its highest point in the early nineteen hundreds when several thousand stonecutters were busily at work in granite and marble sheds throughout the state In the nation they left only about two per cent of the population was allowed' to vote and other means of political expression had to be found Those means were built by the Italians themselves in the form of anarchistic and socialistic societies which were then transplanted to Vermont A nationally famous structure still stands on Granite Street in North Barre Socialist Hall which was a meeting place and entertainment center for Northenders The literate skilled Italians from North Italy did not see their societies as instruments to overthrow the governments of Vermont and the United States but rather as organizations to serve their own needs The societies were holdovers from the unresponsive government in Italy Likewise in the states Italian enclaves Vermonts new Italian citizens could find the food they loved and could buy were busily at work in Barre and there were equal numbers in other stone industry sections of Vermont Those early artisans and their families as well first landed in America at New York and passed through immigration at Ellis Island where they waited for days for official approval of their entry into the new land They carried most of their belongings including feather mattresses kitchen utensils clothing and food The trip to their new home and employment was not always pleasant and they were sometimes preyed upon by the ships crew and their own countrymen as weU Although most of the Italians coming to Vermont worked in the stone industries there were some in business and commerce the professions and landowning as well In Barres northend families like die Tomasis Scampinis and Zanleonis Italian newspapers such as Corriere which began publication in Barre in 1915 There were social affairs and sporting events there also and the sights sounds and smells combined to create a familiar setting that made them comfortable in a new land Instead of looking to politics to explain the issues of the day the Italians turned to their own societies to interpret what was best for them Instead of rushing to seek a new identity in the larger Yankee-Irish society which then dominated the state they turned to their neighborhoods The churches in Vermont were important to the immigrant artisans but here some problems were encountered Almost all Italians were traditionally Catholic and they enjoyed the pomp and discipline of their church Upon arrival in Vermont though they foiind the Catholic church had been established by the Irish who had come before them The newcomers were not com 'Many found these new denominations more pleasing and responsive to their needs a fact that may account for some of the Italian names seen as pastors of non-Catholic churches in Vermont and the nation In Vermonts stone cutting and quarrying centers Italians began arriving in large numbers around 1899 and continued coming but in smaller numbers into the 1920s Accurate records are not available but estimates indicate that in the early 20th Century several thousand stonecutters and carvers (See Page 3: Vermont Italians) The Cultural Trek From Carrara To Rutland By LOUIS BERNEY RUTLAND The Tuscan city of Carrara is a long long way from Rutland yet the Impact which the small Italian provincial capital has had on the history of Rutland during the past 100 years probably is immeasurable From Carrara came the first few Italian immigrants who settled in Rutland County during the latter part of the 19th century And out of that early group of settlers has blossomed one of the most vibrant ethnic communities in Rutland today Any cross-section of Rutland life would give evidence of the prominent role the citys Italian citizens play in the conduct of everyday affairs in the community at large Rutlanders of Italian descent may be found in city govern ment on the Board of Alder- carvers and sculptors after men among the communitys they came under his employ It foremost civic leaders and in is estimated that some 300 any number of professions craftsmen came to Proctor including law medicine from Carrara to work for the business and real estate Vermont Marble Co during the It is no coincidence that the latter years of the 19th century first few Italians from Carrara In 1894 about 50 men many made their way to Rutland of whom have descendants still County for there exists one living in the Rutland area primary element which formed the Italian Aid Society Tuscany and Vermont have in A membership stipulation of common marble the club was that one had to be When the Vermont Marble from Carrara to belong At one Co was organized in 1880 by point the organization was Col Redfield Proctor a one- even known as Italian Aid time governor and US senator Society Among theltalians from Vermont there was a The marble company dearth of skilled stone cutters donated land to the society and sculptors in the state and in 1915 a club building was Immigrants from England and erected at 415 West St That Ireland had been working in site is still the home of the Vermonts marble quarries Italian Aid Society in Rutland employment Some went to the granite quarries in Barre while others found employment in their trade as far away as Quincy Mass and the states of Georgia and Tennessee It was about this 1 time however that the railroad and foundry workers began infiltrating the area so despite the loss of some marble artisans due to the strike the Italian population in the Rutland region did not noticeably decline Some members of the old Italian Aid Society broke off from the ogranization and formed a new club in 1922 known as the Italian American Society This organization was located in Proctor and was not associated with the club of the same name currently in existence in Rutland The Italian American Society served a dual function for the Italian community in Rutland County First it was a social club and second it was a means of raising money for sick dr disabled workers Because there was no employment insurance at the time the society would provide $5 a week for sick members today Die influx of marble artisans to the Proctor area served as a magnet of sorts in attracting Italians of other professions to Rutland County The establishment of the Italian colony meant that there was a need for the importation of certain staples which the marble workers had been accustomed to in their home country but which were lacking in Vermont Items such as olive oil but they lacked expertise at carving and sculpting marble Carrara meanwhile was known as a center of the marble industry at that time and the city boasted some 1000 quarries of its own Several immigrants from the Italian city made their way to Vermont about that time among them Anthony Perini the great-uncle of three current Rutland residents brothers Serse Dino and Demo spaghetti cheeses tomato Perini who actually came to products oranges salami and who could not work and $10 the state in 1875 eventually bologna all common per week for hospitalized became superintendent of the products on the Italian table members companys marble shop The Italian community probably reached its peak in the late 1920s and early 1930s here Most Italian families resided in the Meadow Street were shipped to Vermont And along with them came a second wave of Italian immigrants from the warmer climes of Naples and Sicily These Italians were unskilled in the Wtjon of Rutland along with marble trade and begarr families of Irish descent St working in Rutland as railroad Peters Church was the was and foundry laborers Col Proctor whose name was eventually taken by the settlement Where the marble company was located began a campaign to recruit marble craftsmen from Carrara to work for the company and thus gave birth to the first wave of Italian immigrants believed to have come to the Rutland region The passage across the Atlantic was paid by Col Proctor who in turn was repaid by the stone cutters religious center for the immigrant community The Italians and Irish mixed with little hostility between the two ethnic groups and as a whole Rutlands Italian community received little negative (SeePageS: Rutlands) In 1904 union organizers from New York came up to the Proctor marble quarries and precipitated a strike which caused many of the Italian marble craftsmen to leave the area and look elsewhere for Diomas Mazzarlello 70 who came to Rutland In 1921 had no qualms about having his picture taken during his evening meal (Photo by Jaffe) Carino Fusco begins work in the garden behind Cantones Store on Meadow Street that she has operated with her sister Emma Cantone since 1921 (Photo by Jaffe).