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# 64 • JULY 12 , 2015
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THE INTERVIEW:
Marian
Paravano Grubor
West Virginia, where Italians came to work and
now they celebrate their heritage
By Umberto Mucci
West Virginia has a long history
of Italian emigration. In 1910
more than 17,000 Italians were
living there, making up 30% of
the entire foreign-born population of the State: Italy even
had a consular office in northern West Virginia. The majority of the Italian immigrants
came from the south: Calabria,
Campania, Sicilia. In 1907, the
worst mining disaster in US history killed in Monongah 171
Italian miners: some of them
were children.
Years have passed,
and now West Virginia hosts a huge Italian festival, in Whe6 | WE THE ITALIANS
www.wetheitalians.com
eling: it probably is the second
largest one of the whole USA,
after the San Gennaro feast in
New York City. It is called Up-