Immigrant Experience
Paula Panti
HIS/226
April 06, 2014
Michelle O’Malley

I am Giovanni (John) Pilutti this is the story of my family and descendants. I was born on February 16, 1892, in Rivignano, Udine, Italy and Louisa Muzzini who later became my wife and was born on March 22, 1897, near the same place. This is the story of my life’s journey, and how I ended up coming to America. Through hardships and sacrifice our family had a dream of going to America and making a better life for our children, and so the story begins. The year was 1914 when I joined the Italian Army, which I served until 1918 fighting in World War 1. It was the end of World War I much of Western Europe was still in turmoil; Men coming home from serving
I was poked and probed for days on end by doctors, psychiatrist, and political officers making sure I was healthy enough and stable enough to reside in the United States. I left Ellis Island after two weeks and decided to stay in NY City because while at Ellis Island I became acquainted with an Italian from my home town who said his Uncle could get me a job as masonry. This city was very crowded, garbage was all over the place and the building I was to live in was not a pleasant site. There was no running water in the tenant building I lived in, and 20 different families shared the same two bathrooms. The section of the city was then known as Washington Park where many different ethnic groups stayed together. Jobs that were inside were not considered suitable for Italian men at this time in America so many of my country men and myself were doing outside trades and labors. I was fortunate not to be clustered in the ranks of unskilled labors, or being stuck on the docks; or worse on garbage runs. I was a cement mason, a skill that was passed on to me from my father, and one he learned from his father. The hours were very long, and breaks were far and few in between, I barely made enough money to pay the rent in the first six months. Although we were treated like second rate people, I had a plan and nothing was going to stand in my way. I learned to get around the thugs who exploited Italians, and did the