No.003
A Little Italy Inside Me
A digital storytelling project developed during Tracks of Freedom, a study trip to New York, exploring the history and contemporary identity of Italian-American communities across the city. Through archival research, personal encounters and first-hand testimonies, it traces the journey of Italian immigration from its early waves to the present, reflecting on memory, heritage and the feeling of belonging to a culture that is inherited rather than fully lived.
Client
Self initiated
Year
2025
Discipline
Digital, Storytelling
Filed under
Digital
Photography
Identity
Overview
An Italy that was never lived
The project began with a personal question. In the early 1900s, my great-grandfather travelled from Italy to New York to earn money for his family, eventually returning home a few years later to get married. But what if he had never come back? How different would my life be?
This question became the starting point for an exploration of Italian-American identity, memory and belonging. Through research and encounters across New York, I collected stories and personal reflections from descendants of Italian immigrants — many of whom still feel Italian despite having never lived in Italy or knowing the country only through family traditions.
A Little Italy Inside Me transforms these fragments into a digital space that brings together historical context, places and personal testimonies, inviting visitors to reflect on what it means to inherit a culture from a place you may have never truly known. At the end of the New York study trip, the project was presented at the School of Visual Arts to an audience of SVA professors and designers we had met throughout the trip, turning the research into an opportunity for discussion and exchange.
The project was later brought back to Rome and presented at a university exhibition in December, allowing a local audience to discover the projects developed during the New York experience. Together with three other students, I also contributed to the visual identity of the exhibition.
Visit the site here!
