One Connecticut City Has More Italian-Americans Than Anywhere Else

One of our cities right here in Connecticut reportedly has the highest percentage of Italian-Americans in America.

According to new census numbers published by the New Haven Register, Italian-Americans account for 21% of the population in New Haven, CT.

If I had asked you what city, you would think, would have the highest population percentage of Italian-Americans, you might have guessed New York City, I would have. That just makes sense, the article points out that New York's Ellis Island was the main entry point for Italian-American immigrants. New York did not make the Top 10, instead New Haven is the place.

That's pretty cool stuff and I believe it's important to celebrate your ancestry and hold sacred your cultural traditions. I am Italian-American and grew up in a traditional Italian-American family. Our family does the seven fishes on Christmas, we always attended church on Sundays, followed by the whole family gathering in one place for a big pasta dinner for the rest of the day, and we did this every week.

While I appreciate the way I grew up, the experiences I had and how it formed who I am, there are some things I'd like to ask some of my fellow Italian-Americans to stop doing and they are:

• Forcing the fact that you are Italian-American into conversations where it has no place. If you are talking about how you don't like "Cheez-It" crackers, you don't need to start the sentence with "I'm Italian." This is completely unnecessary and the rest of us are embarrassed for you.
• Insisting their guy is "the best." If the discussion is about a barber, a mechanic or even a florist, my fellow Italian-American's will tell you there guy is "the best" and you "gotta go see him." You might have a guy who is the best, but you can't have all the best guys. If you tell me your mechanic, barber and florist are the best, it's tough to trust your recommendation.
• Finally, to my Italian-American brothers and sisters, I beg you, please stop saying Godfather II is the best of the movie series and saying Godfather III is terrible. Godfather I is the best, it's the first, the story never takes flight without it and Godfather III was an impossible task for the filmmakers, it was never going to make everyone happy, it was not terrible, it was actually pretty good.

Those are the things I'd like to stop encountering, can we all work together on this? Also I love you all, Cent'Anni!