UPTOWNflavor

Most people know that Harlem used to the be home to one of the the largest Jewish communities in the world before it became the Mecca of black culture but how many knew that there was a large Italian population as well. Before it became known as Spanish Harlem, East Harlem was home to more Italians than its sister Little Italy in lower Manhattan. Reportedly thousands of Italian families moved out the area after World War II when tenements were torn down to make way for public housing projects. Now there are a little over 1000 Italians left in East Harlem.

This coming weekend, many of the Italian families that left Harlem more than 50 years ago will be returning on charter buses to celebrate their hometown tradition of the Dance of the Giglio, which means lily in Italian.

It’s not just the dance that brings hundreds of Italian-Americans flocking back to the old neighborhood, trading green lawns for East Harlem’s asphalt for a day. Here, old neighbors feel like family, and childhood memories of simpler times come to life. The Giglio Boys, as they call themselves, even play a nostalgic, if slower-paced, game of stickball.

For the rest of the year, a couple of well-known restaurants, a bakery and elderly men lounging in front of Claudio’s barbershop are about the only reminders that this used to be the city’s biggest Italian neighborhood.

Read the whole article here: The New York Times

Related: Italian Harlem [Our Lady of Mount Carmel] :: Recollections [thehistorybox.com] :: Dance of the Giglio [website] :: Carolyn Castiglia [blog] ::