Providence

Federal Hill Tours

My name is Walter Potenza, a chef by trade but a fanatical historian of the Italian Immigration movement in the USA. Early in the 70s after arriving here from Abruzzo, Italy. I began collecting photographs and various documents pertaining to the people who walked this noble land much before me. It has been an honor and in many ways a moral obligation to share the history and the food culture of my people, in an effort to maintain alive their memories and bring to knowledge all the sacrifices endured along with sociological and language obstacles. While I am here, I will do my best to share with honesty my heritage, while never forgetting that we were once treated as different, racially profiled, and socially not accepted at every level within the American society.

WE WERE ONCE  "PEOPLE WITH DARK SKIN AND READY TO CRIME"

Quote by New Orleans Chief of Police David Hennessy, prior to the New Orleans Lynchings March 14, 1891, resulting in the death of 11 Italian Immigrants.