AIFS in Florence, Italy

LIVING A DAY AS AN EMIGRANT
American students rediscover their roots from Genoa to Ellis Island
by Professor Adriano Boncompagni

A faculty member teaching a course on Italian Migration at Richmond University, Florence Campus, headed to Genoa with a group of American students for a visit to the exhibition “From Genoa to Ellis Island”, held at the Galata Sea Museum, located near the piers from where for decades million of Italians left as migrants for the United States and other Latin American destinations. Compared to the traditional exhibitions and museums, the aim of this exhibition is to give visitors the experience of life as an “emigrant”. Richmond University students were given a passport and a ticket as if they were Italian migrants arriving in Genoa around the turn of the 20th century.

After purchasing the passenger’s tickets, all visitors and our students entered the reproduction of the old maritime station and, after all checks and recommendations, they were able to go on board the emigration steamship.

As a true life emigration experience, boarding and departure are the most dramatic moments, as the bonds with one’s homeland and affections are cut. In the same way, in the exhibition “From Genoa to Ellis Island” the emotional highlight is represented by the great boarding scene, with the reconstruction of the Maritime Station and the side of the steamship recreated in life size in finest detail. Students have, therefore, physically boarded, looking for their berths in the common sleeping quarters (divided into men’s and women’s areas), and were able to explore the ship’s service rooms, such as the bathrooms, refectory, medical room, and even the prison and the Purser’s Office.

A journey through the migration steamship which is, at the same time, a true “virtual” journey. From the portholes and windows we have all viewed the sea, at varying times during the day, at dusk and in a moonlit night, finally sailing past the Statue of Liberty, a moment of big emotion. But this is not the end of the journey. Students have disembarked at Ellis Island, two miles off New York, where they entered the Inspection Line, the path consisting of medical examinations, questioning and testing to assess whether migrants met the requirements to be accepted into America. This same process is recreated, including being made to wait, questioning, examinations, also showing what happened to those who did not meet the requirements, were sick or were judged as not eligible to enter the United States. Finally, the last scene opens the door of the New World, or, more precisely, New York City, where the majority of migrants coming from Europe stayed, confronted with the tangible problems of finding a job, a house, looking after one’s health and getting by.

After the visit to the exhibition, the group explored the old and narrow alleys of the city center of Genoa and stopped for lunch in a trattoria to taste some great pasta al pesto. Genoa, major city of Liguria, as well as birthplace of Christopher Columbus and pesto sauce, deserved to be considerably better known than it normally is, since it is off the beaten-track of most tourists. After lunch, there was still time to visit a number of important monuments of Genoa, such as the picturesque medieval square of San Matteo and the Cathedral, as well as a huge deli shop on the waterfront, so to bring home some local food specialties.

Galata Museo del Mare, Calata de Mari 1 (Darsena – Via Gramsci) – 16126 – Genova
Orario apertura: dal martedì alla domenica dalle 10:00 alle 19:30 - Ingresso: € 10 -  gruppi: € 8 (minimo 20 persone)
Info: 010 23 45 655; info@galatamuseodelmare.it