Connecticut Most Italian State

By BRIAN CAROVILLANO
.c The Associated Press
 

PROVIDENCE, R.I. (AP) - Connecticut, the purported birthplace of pizza in 
America, has overtaken neighboring Rhode Island as the state with the highest 
percentage of Italian-Americans, census figures show. 

Some 16.4 percent of Connecticut residents listed Italian as their primary 
ancestry, edging Rhode Island at 15.9 percent and New Jersey with 15.4 
percent. The results are from the Census Bureau's supplemental survey, 
distributed last spring to 700,000 homes nationwide. 

Rhode Islanders seemed reluctant to accept the runner-up spot. 

``I don't believe it,'' said Carol Gaeta, second-generation owner of Scialo 
Bros. Bakery in the Federal Hill neighborhood of Providence, where gondolas 
ply city canals. ``It can't be true.'' 

Added Mayor Vincent ``Buddy'' Cianci Jr.: ``They may live in Connecticut, but 
they come to Federal Hill to eat.'' 

In Connecticut, New Haven's Wooster Street is the epicenter of the state's 
Italian population. Thousands of immigrants from the southern town of Amalfi 
settled between 1890 and 1930 in New Haven, which claims to be the birthplace 
of pizza in America. 

But even Laura Consiglio Fantarella, the third-generation owner of 
Consiglio's Restaurant on Wooster Street, is surprised Connecticut is the 
most Italian state. 

``I would've thought it was New Jersey or New York,'' she said. ``I don't 
think many people, when they think of Connecticut, think about Italians.'' 

The Italian community in both states has been stable since a huge wave of 
immigration during the late 19th and early 20th centuries. 

``It's not like we're losing a ton of Italians,'' Cianci said. ``We're 
gaining so many people from other parts of the world, and Italians now make 
up a smaller percentage of the population.'' 

Rhode Island gave the country its first Italian-American senator - John 
Pastore, also the first U.S. governor of Italian ancestry. 

Most of the state's new immigrants are Hispanics, who have replaced Italians 
in many neighborhoods. In the kitchen at Scialo Bros. Bakery, the dominant 
language is now Spanish. 

``My sister and I are the only Italians left,'' said Gaeta, arranging trays 
of cookies for a wedding. ``But this is still an Italian bakery, and it 
always will be.''