La Avventura Italia
Traveler: Luciano Perrotta
Country of Descent: Rotundi (Province of Avellino) Italy
Arrival: March 13, 1912: Ellis Island, New York

   During the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, America was known to the rest of the world as the land of opportunity, and the land of the free. America offered a new life to all who were willing to take the opportunity and start over to become more successful. America attracted immigrants from every continent. The main hosting continent for immigrants to the United States although, was Europe.

  My family is mainly of European descent. The part I am focusing on is the Italian. My great-grandfather, Luciano Perrotta, was the first immigrant in my family to arrive in this new country. Luciano was born in Rotundi, Italy on April 16, 1893 as one of four boys. While still in Italy, his father who was a cabinet-maker, taught him the skills he knew. He also taught him how to play the accordian. Luciano wanted to be a barber. His older brother Francesco, who was a farmer moved to America in December 1892. He wrote back to his brother in Italy, mentioning how great America was. At the age of 18, Luciano knew he also wanted to move to America. He packed his bags and was on his way. He boarded a ship called the S.S. Hamburg. A ticket in steerage was all he could afford.

   On March 13th, 1912, Luciano entered a new beginning for his life. He met his older brother in New York City after arriving at Ellis Island and was driven down to Springfield, Massachusetts where Francesco was living. He lived wis his brother and his brother's wife for a while in the South end. He worked for his sister-in-law's family's business as an ice delivery boy. Early in life, he realized that he needed to make the best out of everything. Back home in Italy, he was already a skilled and licensed barber and couldn't wait to open his own shop in America. But first, he had to learn English. He got another job sweeping in a barber shop so that he could learn about the interactions with Americans. He taught himself how to speak English like this and by studying long and hard. He was enlisted in the service on July 23rd, 1918. He was shipped to Fort Devons, MA. He was in the army band as an accordionist.

   On one of his ice delivery trips, he met a pretty woman named Thomasina D'Antonio.
Several years later, they married. Thomasina was a hair dresser and stylist. Perfect. Thomasina and Luciano were going to open their own barber shop and salon. First, they needed to get out of the South end. The population in Springfield at the time was mostly Irish-Catholic. The Irish didn't like the new Italian immigrants. They were swarthy and considered lazy because most were farmers or manual laborers. They were discriminated against by the Irish and this made them unhappy. Some Italian men were going to start stirring up some trouble. Luciano And Thomasina bought a house in East Springfield where they could get away from the other Italians because they were somewhat ashamed of their heritage. Being Italian was not considered "cool" so many tried to hide it by changing their names. Luciano became Lucian and Thomasina Rosa D' Antonio became Theresa Rose Danton.

   In order to open the barber shop of their dreams, they had to save money. Theresa, who liked to be called Tess, saved all her money and managed her husbands and when they had almost enough money, she sold her car to make up for the last bit. They bought the shop on Osborne Terrace (called "Os-a-born-a Terracio" by Lucian) where Lucian did the men's hair and Tess did the women's. The Osborne Terrace Barber Shop became famous. People were traveling from all over to get the haircuts given by Lucian. His hard work was finally paying off. While Lucian was making money in the barber shop, most other Italian immigrants were doing hard labor or working in factories below other Italians. On March 5th, 1937, Tess gave birth to a son, Daniel Perrotta.

  Danny was Lucian's pride in joy. He taught his son everything he knew whether he liked it or not. Lucian always gave it everything he had to be the best he could possibly be. He was a perfectionist. He always looked flawless and was almost never seen without a a suit, tie and hat. He expected nothing less than the best from his son. He taught him how to be a barber, a cabinet maker and how to play the accordion. He practiced the accordion for an hour every single day. Lucian also taught him how to build and fix pipe organs and accordians. Danny attended Berkely School of Music and Harts Music schoool which were of the best educations money could buy. Music ran in the family. Later in his life, Danny opened "Perrotta's Music Store" where he employed people such as Sam Falcetti and Tema Del Padre. When Julio Giulietti died, he left all of his accordions to Danny because he knew he would take better care of them than anyone else. His father had taught him well.

   In their home, Lucian and Tess kept everything as neat as a pin. Wherever he went Lucian refused to enter through the front door. He always went around back because it is an Italian thing to enter through the kitchen. Although Lucian was living in America, he frequently took trips back to Italy and wrote his son and wife letters from "home." No immigrant ever fully detached from their home country. Before moving to the United States, what Lucian had thought would be rich and streets paved with gold he found out that the gold-paved streets were actually covered in ice and snow, literally and metaphorically. Just as life was beginning to get easy, his life started over and became harder than ever. The new world was not so great. It was a tough life and not very many people could learn to cope with it. Lucian did. He still loved Italy though. When he was older, he was diagnosed with emphysema. He knew he was dying. His one wish was to be buried at home, in Italy. He booked a cruise for $349.00 to Italy. This cruise, indeed, was the end of his life. He was buried at the British National Cemetary in Naples, Italy. Home is home and your true home will never be taken away from you.

By: Hannah Rose