Sicilians in Florida, USA

I recently discovered that Tampa,Florida in the USA is the home to thousands of Sicilian immigrants, many from the province of Agrigento. The information below was provided by a gentleman called Tony Carreno.

Most of the Sicilian Immigrants to Florida began to arrive in Tampa in the early 1900's, drawn there by work in the numerous cigar factories, where they worked alongside many Spaniards and Cubans. Most adopted Spanish as their second language. the vast majority of these immigrants were from the villages of Allessandria della Rocca, Santo Stefano Quisquina, Bivona, and Ciancana. The Sicilian community in Tampa remained quite cohesive until after World War II, when assimilation into mainstream American culture become more apparent. However, the Sicilian dialect persisted certainly through the first American-born generation, and to some extent to the second American-born (grandchildren's) generation.

If you have occasion to visit the Tampa area Tony suggests visiting the Ybor City area of the city, which was the center of most of the Sicilian community. L'Unione Italiana, an original mutual aid society continues to exist as a social and cultural preservation club.

If you have information about Sicilian communities overseas, and would like to share it, then please get in touch. I will contact you and get your approval before publishing anything on the site. Thank you. Email: webmamma@thesicilysite.com.