Roseto Valfortore

Emigration

There have been numerous waves of emigration from the town of Roseto Valfortore since the late 19th century. The first immigrants to the United States from there arrived in the Lehigh Valley of Pennsylvania in 1883, to work in the local slate quarries. They settled in Bangor first, then bought land in the area, and established the settlement of Roseto, an Italian cultural enclave named after their home village. In 1894 alone, 1,200 residents of Roseto Valfortore applied for passports to the U.S.

From 1900 through 1950s it was recorded that many migrated to Youngstown, Ohio and surrounding areas. Many migrants worked in the steel mills in Ohio. Throughout the 1950s and 1960s more than 3,000 Rosetani migrated to Toronto and its surrounding areas, as well as to Washington D.C. Some went further west into Summit County Ohio and obtained jobs in the rubber industry founded by FA Seiberling [Goodyear Tire and Rubber] and BF Goodrich [Goodrich Tire]. They established private clubs and referred to themselves as Rosetans. There were two such Rosetan Clubs in Akron Ohio.