One of the Largest Population Movements
in Modern Times

The massive emigration of Italians, which began after the unification of Italy in 1861, is unique in terms of its causes and magnitude.

Emigrants waiting to board, Naples, Italy, c. 1910. Source: © Touring Club Italiano, operated by Archivi Alinari

Over the course of almost a century, nearly 26 million Italians left their homeland. The first major wave of emigration began in the 1870s and continued until the 1920s, when the number of departures decreased. More than 20 years elapsed before the second wave of emigration, from 1946 to the end of the 1970s.

Emigration from Italy by region, 1876-1971 Source: © Gianfausto Rosoli, ed., Un secolo di emigrazione italiana, 1876-1976, Rome, Centro Studi Emigrazione, 1978, pp. 378-383.

The exodus was prompted mainly by the economic policy of the Italian government, which favoured industry over agriculture and focused industrialization efforts in the northwestern regions. For quite a while, in several other regions, the economy continued to be dominated by weakened unindustrialized agriculture. At the same time, a number of traditional trades in these regions were hit hard by competition from goods manufactured in the industrialized Northwest.

Advertising poster for a new shipping company that travelled to the United States, 1908 Source: © Archives, Istituto per la Storia dell'Umbria Contemporanea, Perugia

This state of chronic underdevelopment, aggravated by the devastation of two world wars, remained substantially unchanged until the 1960s. With no political or social solutions in sight, many Italians, determined to escape poverty and seek a brighter future, chose to emigrate.

	Family-home keys brought to Canada by Italian immigrants

	House keys from the family home of Francesca Schembri Sicily region, Italy 1896-1902 Metal Lent by Francesca Schembri