Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1911-09-17

houses. which have come to transform
that section between = street and Penn
sylvania avenue northwest along 1st
sfrent into a residence lection. II the old
days this was Washington's real Little
Italy. this was the nucleus from which
rave Sprung the many communities Of
Italians.
The laboring Italians a9e found every
where. But they are maini3 loca ted in
the colonies of Willow Tree alley. Schotts
alley. Decatur street and Massachusetts
ayenCe. r. and streets. as well as in
Navy place southeast which has a large
Italian population. These are the places
where the iaboring classes Of Italy hive
in small houses. These are the locations
where. the small brown-ayed bamhinos of
six and eight years tend day in and
day out thcir younger sisters and broth
crs.
And then there are localities where
dwell the better classes OF Italans-fTui;
merchants. business men. bankers ana
the prcpr etors Of barber shops and those
Who have become suffc emily American
lied to so into city of Americans and
hold their own commercially. Others of
the better class OF Italians have homes
on NJ street near 9th northwest, and on
y street and on p street. while those of
tie colony leaders with amassed for
tones have made their homes out on
Mount Pleasant. There also other
colonies on the old Furdy estate and in
PlrdyS court.
The real pioneer Of the Italian settle
Element IS Marco Laurenz; who came to
The city in 1851 While there is no mayor
OF the Italian settlement there Is III
the Chinese community of Washington,
and boss, his word among the 1tal-
ians to great extent IS law. Ihey
defer to him in all matters historical. aid
his advice to the newly arrived dwellcF
in the quarter is regarded with the rev
ereace of proverb. LaurenZi is nov
living at pa X street He was the first
dH eller in the original Little Italy
which lay along 1st street northwest, az
most IL the shadow of the Capitol.s dome
There are many Neapolitans in Wash
inSton. Chief among them Is G. A. PaS
sagni. one of the be- known of the tia
ian merchants. We are justly proud %
ourselves he declares. There is nt
better class of citizens in Washington.
But to Marco Laurent perhaps Is dE'
more than to any man the extent o
Washington's Italian population. He cam
here when Washington was new. The:'
were few Italian residents compared Will
the numbers of the last census. 1t wa
land new to him. Here were not tn
sunny skies of fair Calabrla or the starr.
velvet nights of Naples. But here, NOR
than in any other place. Laurenzi recog
nized chance for his countrymen wh'
loved the principles of Garibaldi. Ant
so. in glowing accounts, he wrote to III
friends across the seas They came
The civil war was just beginning. bu
their civil war had not long been passed
and so the chaotic conditions here did no
deter them. Angelo. Ghiseili, who nov
lives at 1856 Pennsylvania avenue, cam
next and he was followed closely by Jo
seph Cato now living in Brookland. an
Lorenzo Limi, who remained in Washing
ton more than two score of years, at las
going back to his native land with
snug fortune.
While these men We're coming to Wash
ington ard founding the colonies, Whlci
now number thousands. others of the
countrymen were pouring into the sea
port towns, New York. Boston, Baltimor'
and Philadelphia and rema ming there
While they were making homes and for
tunes in the larger cities, the Italians II
Washington were experiencing the trials
of a city on the borderland of war. and
for many years the golden opportunity
seen in the future by Laurence did not
come.
But in the early seventies the tide Of
war had receded. The country was in the
made enough money since the close OF
of the Injuries of life. and then the pre-
dictions of the pioneer Italians here were
justified Some of them became import
ers OF wine. Others. like the Iii GloTSi'
brothers, who came later, taeiishet