537 S. Peters, New Orleans, LA 70130
Website, social handles, ticketing information here
- The American Italian Cultural Center tells an important immigration story that many locals know well but will be a revelation to tourists. The community it celebrates has made important contributions to the city’s history in many fields, including commerce, religion, politics, sport, and the arts.
- Also worth learning are the hardships and perils that immigrants faced as they arrived in New Orleans during the 19th and early 20th centuries.
The history
As Italians fled their home country in the mid-19th century, Louisiana was one of their favored New World destinations as immigrants provided affordable labor after the abolition of slavery. Between 1850 and 1870, New Orleans was home to more Italians than any other US city.
This narrative begins the visitor experience at the museum at the American Italian Cultural Center. The gallery title is “L’ARRIVO,” and the story that unfolds thereafter explores most aspects of the lives of newly arrived New Orleanians, from religion, commerce, family life, the arts, sports, and even a few less-savory aspects of their new home.
All of this is the vision of one man, Joseph Maselli, appropriately saluted on a panel in the exhibit. A New Jersey native, Maselli was a US Army volunteer in World War II sent to train at Camp Plauche near New Orleans. At a USO dance there, he met Antoinette Cammarata and their lives – and New Orleans history – changed. Maselli eventually turned his liquor wholesaling business into a generous philanthropic mission to celebrate the roles Italians and Cicilians played in New Orleans society. The American Italian Cultural Center is just one of his creations.
Overview
Pause for a minute at the ground-level entrance of the elevator that will deliver you to the museum (also up there: The Louisiana American Italian Hall of Fame) and look up. There, circling the ceiling, is a timeline tracking the Italian experience in New Orleans starting with the city’s 1718 founding and running past the 1803 Louisiana Purchase, the 1814 founding of Milan native Pierre Maspero’s Slave Exchange, the first waves of Sicilian immigration to Louisiana, the 1915 founding of Roman Candy Company, the 1918 Axman murders targeting Italian grocers, the 1966 founding of the New Orleans Saints, the 1978 founding of the Piazza d’Italia, and the 1984 founding of the American Italian Cultural Center.
The L’ARRIVO gallery, complete with garb that would’ve been worn by the newly arrived immigrants, begins the winding walk through the narrative, which concludes with the Grazie gallery, where benefactors are acknowledged. En route, handy locator maps identify benevolent-society tombs in Metairie Cemetery and Italian American architectural landmarks in the French Quarter.
Back on the ground floor, the museum salutes Italian contributions to a most musical city. It is occasionally asserted (though not in the museum) that Italians invented jazz. That is amiss, but it’s acknowledged in scholarly circles that the first commercially released jazz recording (“Livery Stable Blues” backed with “Dixieland Jass Band One-step”) was made in February 1917 by the Original Dixieland Jazz Band fronted by New Orleans coronetist “Nick” LaRocca. That million-selling milestone is celebrated in the ground-floor exhibit. LaRocca’s “orchestra had only five pieces, but they were the hottest five pieces that had ever been known before,” says Louis Armstrong in some wall text there. I recommend at least an hour here if you’re a skimmer or swimmer, twice that if you’re a diver. (Which are you?)
Must-see exhibits and objects
- A hairbrush, fan, and handkerchief used by Mother Cabrini are on view in a gallery devoted to Italian spiritual history in the city. The patron saint of immigrants, Cabrini has four miracles in her CV and was the first US citizen to be canonized. Arriving in New Orleans in 1892, her order eventually settled in the Sacred Heart Orphan Asylum in 1906.
- Linger at the Louis Prima display in the “American Italians in Jazz” gallery, which features display screens tracking the tracks and players. Prima was “the first Sicilian American performer to turn Italian ethnicity into a badge of honor, presenting it as joyous and unpretentious without being ridiculous,” says scholar Bruce Boyd Raeburn in wall text.
- Merrill Ferrara’s WWII medals. A US Army volunteer, Ferrera served from Sicily through D-Day, the Battle of the Bulge, and V-E Day. He returned home in September 1945 and ran his family grocery until Hurricane Katrina flooded it away.
Public programs
The museum hosts occasional author talks, regular “Ciao Yoga” sessions, and cooking demonstrations. Check the schedule here.
Museum store
It’s a lovely assemblage of museum-store stuff, including mugs, posters, books, artwork, and T-shirts emblazoned with the museum’s salutation (it’s on the outside wall announcing the museum’s presence to the street), “Ciao Y’all!” Museumgoing couples could add one of these to their “Shalom Y’all” ballcap from the Museum of the Southern Jewish Experience.
Parking
There’s a big paid lot on the other side of the Piazza d’Italia, and another right next door, but I’ve had good luck with much more reasonable street parking a block or so upriver on St. Peters.
Lunch
The Caesars (stretching the museum’s theme a bit with this reference) New Orleans casino about a block away has dining options at a variety of price points, from Nobu sushi to pizza by the slice.
Drinks
The museum closes at 4 p.m., 3 p.m. on Saturday. The bar at Compère Lapin opens at 5:30. Lucy’s Retired Surfers Bar & Restaurant is near enough for a quick quench if necessary.
Website
The site will walk you through a primer on the stories told inside the museum, then introduce you to some of the other things that Joseph Maselli’s intrepid vision and ethnic pride still manifests: Italian-language lessons, hosted travel trips, translation and interpretation services, genealogy research, and more. Also, there are digital copies of the Italian American Digest, which covers social events and good works by the local Italian American community, and an online shopping link.
Extra thing
The Piazza d’Italia is a must-see if you’re a fan of wacky, mid-century, post-modern architecture. The Charles Moore design has been appropriately celebrated occasionally since its 1978 construction, though the current version is a little sad. There have been a few rehab efforts over the years, but the property never materialized as a great public space. Still, you can find many appreciations. A starter pack of explainers is here, here, here, here, and here.