History
Italo-Mexican identity rests on the common experience of migration from Italy in the late 19th century, a period characterized by a more general Italian diaspora to the Americas (under the pressures of economic transformation and the process of unification into a nation-state in 1871), and the establishment of communities, primarily in central and eastern Mexico. Only about 13,000 Italians emigrated to Mexico during this period, and at least half of them subsequently returned to Italy or went on to the United States. Most Italians coming to Mexico were farmers or farm workers from the northern districts. Most of these immigrants were from northern Italy, especially from the regions of Veneto, Trentino-Alto Adige/Südtirol, and Lombardy. Others arriving in the early 19th c. included many from Southern Italy. Significant numbers of Italian settlers arriving in the late 19th and early 20th centuries received land grants from the Mexican government. When Benito Mussolini came to power, thousands of Italian families left Italy for Mexico.
Today, many Italo-Mexicans continue to reside in towns founded by their ancestors. Among these is Chipilo, in the state of Puebla, where a derivative of the Venetian dialect is still spoken by its residents. Other towns founded by Italian immigrants lie in the states of Veracruz (Huatusco), San Luis Potosí, and the Mexican Federal District. In the state of Aguascalientes there is a large population of Mexicans of Italian descent - the result of the invasion of the French and the creation of the Second Mexican Empire. Smaller, but also notable, numbers of Italo-Mexicans can be found in Guanajuato, Estado de Mexico, and in the towns of Nueva Italia and Lombardia in the state of Michoacán, which were founded by wealthy Italians who immigrated to Mexico after the 1880 diaspora and established large agricultural estates known as haciendas. Playa del Carmen in the state of Quintana Roo has also received a notable number of immigrants from Italy.
At present, the regions with the highest concentration of Mexican Italians are Mexico City, Puebla, and Veracruz.
Read more about this topic: Italian Immigration To Mexico
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