Elizabeth Street - Laurie Fabiano [1]
perché — why
per favore — please
pescatori — fishermen
pescespada — swordfish
piacere — please/pleased to meet you
Piemontese — person from the Piedmont region in northern Italy
Pokerino — card and board game
pomodoro — tomato
prego — excuse me/you’re welcome
principessa — princess
professore — professor
Puglia — region of Italy
puttana — whore
questa — this
Risorgimento — Italian revolution
schifoso — lowlife
Scillese — person from Scilla
scopa — card game
scusa — excuse me
sì — yes
signora — ma’am
signore — mister
sindaco — mayor
smettila — cut it out
sorella — sister
sporcaccioni — pigs, slobs
strega — witch
stronzo — turd, shit
terremoto — earthquake
torta — cake
tre — three
uno — one
va al diavolo — go to the devil
va bene — okay, fine
vaffanculo — go fuck yourself
vai — go
voto — vote
wop — derogatory term for Italian-American
yia-yia — grandmother (Greek)
zia — aunt
zio — uncle
zucchero — sugar
CONTENTS
PROLOGUE
PART ONE: SCILLA, CALABRIA, ITALY 1890–1901
CHAPTER ONE
CHAPTER TWO
CHAPTER THREE
PART TWO: NEW YORK, NEW YORK 1901–1902
CHAPTER FOUR
CHAPTER FIVE
CHAPTER SIX
PART THREE: SCILLA, ITALY, TO NEW YORK, NEW YORK 1902
CHAPTER SEVEN
CHAPTER EIGHT
CHAPTER NINE
PART FOUR: NEW YORK, NEW YORK 1903–1904
CHAPTER TEN
CHAPTER ELEVEN
CHAPTER TWELVE
CHAPTER THIRTEEN
CHAPTER FOURTEEN
CHAPTER FIFTEEN
PART FIVE: NEW YORK, NEW YORK 1905–1907
CHAPTER SIXTEEN
CHAPTER SEVENTEEN
CHAPTER EIGHTEEN
CHAPTER NINETEEN
PART SIX: NEW YORK, NEW YORK 1908
CHAPTER TWENTY
CHAPTER TWENTY-ONE
CHAPTER TWENTY-TWO
PART SEVEN: SCILLA, ITALY AUGUST–DECEMBER 1908
CHAPTER TWENTY-THREE
CHAPTER TWENTY-FOUR
PART EIGHT: NEW YORK, NEW YORK DECEMBER 29, 1908–SEPTEMBER 8, 1909
CHAPTER TWENTY-FIVE
CHAPTER TWENTY-SIX
CHAPTER TWENTY-SEVEN
CHAPTER TWENTY-EIGHT
CHAPTER TWENTY-NINE
CHAPTER THIRTY
CHAPTER THIRTY-ONE
PART NINE: NEW YORK, NEW YORK SEPTEMBER 11, 1909–DECEMBER 8, 1909
CHAPTER THIRTY-TWO
CHAPTER THIRTY-THREE
CHAPTER THIRTY-FOUR
CHAPTER THIRTY-FIVE
CHAPTER THIRTY-SIX
CHAPTER THIRTY-SEVEN
CHAPTER THIRTY-EIGHT
CHAPTER THIRTY-NINE
CHAPTER FORTY
CHAPTER FORTY-ONE
CHAPTER FORTY-TWO
PART TEN: HOBOKEN, NEW JERSEY 1918
CHAPTER FORTY-THREE
EPILOGUE
SELECTED BIBLIOGRAPHY
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
SHAMELESS PROMOTION PAGE
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
PROLOGUE
HOBOKEN, NEW JERSEY, 1985
“We lived at 202 Elizabeth Street.” My grandmother looked away from the video camera to my head. “How come you don’t do anything about your hair? Why don’t you go to the beauty parlor?”
I ignored her. It was a refrain, not a question. “Nanny, try not to move around so much. You keep coming out of the frame.”
For the tenth time, I got up to adjust the camera. My grandmother was seated on the couch and wore a red polyester shirt. Her dyed blonde hair had been set so that two curls framed her face, which was overwhelmed by her gold-rimmed glasses. She was eighty years old and could remember details from more than half a century ago, but not what she had eaten for lunch.
“How many more questions?” complained Nanny halfheartedly.
As Nanny had gotten older, she had mellowed. She said hello to people she didn’t know well and showed her grandchildren more affection. It had taken two decades, but at twenty-eight, I was as close to my grandmother as anyone could be. Still, she was stubborn, and if I was going to get what I wanted on tape, it would take manipulation and coaxing.
“We just got started,” I said, trying to sound sweet and patient.
“I don’t know why you’re doing this anyway,” she grumbled.
“I told you. My memory isn’t as good as yours. You don’t want me screwing up the facts if I try to tell these stories to my kids someday.”
“Some things you shouldn’t tell.”
PART ONE
SCILLA, CALABRIA, ITALY 1890–1901
ONE
Giovanna Costa gripped her father’s arm as he escorted her down the aisle. Nearly everyone from the tiny southern fishing village was in the church of the pescatori,