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The Italians

Strength in Numbers
According to the 2000 Census, 187,540 residents of Queens identify themselves as Italian in ancestry. This was an increase in the number of Italians in the borough since 1990, making the group the largest ancestral category in Queens besides “other.”

Where They Live
Three-quarters of the borough’s Italian-Americans now live in Eastern Queens, but you’ll find plenty of Italian influence in the West. One is the statue of Christopher Columbus right under the Triborough Bridge.

How They Got There
“The Italians came to Queens for a more suburban life,” says Jerry Iannece, the chairman of Bayside’s Community Board 11 and legal counsel for the Federation of Italian American Organizations of Queens Incorporated. “As they settled into the borough, [they] emphasized education and learning English. Their children went to school. Many of them went into the professions. They became lawyers and doctors, and the trend was that they moved east to Bayside, Douglaston, Little Neck, Malba, Whitestone, and areas like that . . . As they moved up in the world and had more money, they moved into bigger homes in more rural areas.”

What Makes Them
Who They Are
“If you look at the Italian areas of Queens, no matter where they are, you’ll see one and two family homes with very strong family units,” Iannece says. “That’s one thing Italians have definitely kept from their culture, the family unit. We still sit down every Sunday at the table and eat together. That part of the heritage will never disappear. As long as that’s the case, we’ll keep growing.”

The Good Life
Throughout Astoria, you’ll find a taste of Italian in stores. Try Forno Italia, with its brick oven pizza and handmade mozzarella; it’s been distributed around New York longer than any other city distributor’s mozzarella.

There are bocce courts on Steinway Street between Ditmars Avenue and 23rd Avenue. Old World Italians can be found playing bocce and cards, and can be heard discussing the latest news in Italian.

Astoria is also home to the Federation of Italian American Organizations of Queens Incorporated, which is an umbrella organization for other Italian organizations. It runs citizenship drives, announces job opportunities, holds English classes, offers cultural trips and several other things—not just for Italians, but for everyone.

The Not-So-Good Life
At times, differences between Italians caused conflict in early Italian neighborhoods. “People from Northern Italy looked down on people from Southern Italy, and people from the Mainland looked down on people from Sicily,” says Iannece. “There was some jealousy and some biasness, even people from town to town. But I don’t see too much of that now.”

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