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Tricentennial cont. from page 3 was a revolutionary development and allowed the brothers to begin to service their same customers through wholesale delivery. Joseph and Angelo, Jr. sought out grocers, restaurants and specialty stores throughout the region who already serviced these clients.
After almost 80 years in the French Quarter, Brocato’ s decided to move the store to its current and largest location in Mid-City. The North Carrollton Avenue store still retains the Old World atmosphere that had
A print advertisement for Taormina’ s Italian Food Products
been carefully created on Ursulines Street: slowly turning ceiling fans, rows of apothecary jars containing colorful candies, and white, glasstopped tables transported customers back to the era of Angelo, Sr., an era when the fashionable Sicilian parlor flourished.
The damage done to New Orleans by Hurricane Katrina disrupted the operations of many local businesses; Angelo Brocato’ s was no exception.
After a great deal of hard work, Angelo Brocato’ s reopened on September 23, 2006. Today, Angelo,
Sr.’ s great-grandson Arthur Brocato presides over the operations of this New Orleans institution.
- Enrico Villamaino III
PROGRESSO
Progresso is well known today for its production of high quality canned food products. Its origins are rooted both in New Orleans and its Italian immigrant population.
The company emerged from the merging of two prominent Italian importing companies in the Crescent City.
Vincent Taormina and his cousin Frank were the owners and operators of“ Taormina Brothers Grocery.” They met with great success selling tomatoes throughout the greater New Orleans area; they were so successful that they sold more orders than they could fill and needed funds to set up a larger canning operation.
Giuseppe Uddo, himself a son of Sicilian immigrants, had already established an impressive canning operation with a nationwide reach. Uddo proposed a merger with the Taorminas in 1925 as his ability to distribute could easily complement their ability to produce sales.
The resultant company was“ The Uddo and Taormina Corporation” and they, in 1949, created the Progresso label, specializing in canned Italian food products, which became mostly soup, olive oil, tomatoes, spaghetti, ravioli and beans.
The Pillsbury Company acquired Progresso in 1988. General Mills acquired Pillsbury in 2001.
- Enrico Villamaino III
Italian American Digest SUMMER 2018
Momteleone is one of the few family-owned hotels in New Orleans.
MONTELEONE
Antonio Monteleone’ s story was one of rags to riches, befitting the protagonist of a Horatio Alger tale. A poor shoemaker by trade, Monteleone immigrated from Sicily to New Orleans in 1880. He was able to set up a small cobbler shop on Royal Street, itself a hub of local commerce and banking.
His business thrived and Monteleone was able to invest in additional real estate.
Wanting to try his hand as a hotelier, he purchased a small hotel at the corner of Royal and Iberville streets. Soon thereafter, the Commercial Hotel, just next door, was available for purchase. Monteleone bought the Commercial and merged the property with his own.
Renamed the Hotel Monteleone in 1908, it underwent several further renovations throughout the 20th century. The Hotel Monteleone is one of the few familyowned hotels to survive the Great Depression and the only high-rise building in the French Quarter’ s interior.
The Hotel’ s legacy has only grown more grand since the introduction of the Carousel Bar, a favorite haunt of literary greats Ernest Hemingway, Tennessee Williams and William Faulkner.
Antonio’ s great-grandson William Monteleone Jr. currently oversees hotel operations.
- Enrico Villamaino III
PIAZZA D’ ITALIA
During his tenure as mayor of New Orleans, Moon Landrieu repeatedly stated that he wanted to erect a monument to the city’ s Italian Americans. American Italian Renaissance Foundation founder Joseph Maselli recommended a piazza instead.
Postmodern architect Charles