Perhaps the great emigration was not only due to hardship and poverty but also motivated by a spirit of adventure, plus the dream of a better life. The ignorance of the language and the difficulty to integrate in the new country, forced the emigrants to undertake the most humble work, such as farm laborers, miners, building workers or dockers. To reinforce the link that united the Cuggiono emigrants with their children and grandchildren, let us try to understand who and how they were, what made them emigrate, how they integrated into the new world and how much they maintained their identity and transmitted their way of life to their descendants.

The great emigration

The Hill: a Cuggiono in St. Louis