Edward Corsi's La Settimana: Italianità as a guiding principle of progress in a new land

Abstract

This article explores how the Italian American bilingual weekly La Settimana, which ran from December 1935 to November 1937, represented an excellent platform not only to promote the extraordinary achievements of Italians in America, but also to educate its wide readership about the need to be more united, more focused in their aims, and more respectful and understanding of the values of culture. This article examines the weekly in light of the belief advocated by its founder, Edward Corsi, that the Italian American communities needed a much higher quality of journalism that reflected and followed the progress of the Italians in America, particularly those of the second and third generations, and to stimulate their interest in American life and its institutions, while stressing the importance of their Italian heritage and language. The essay also addresses La Settimana's benevolent attitude toward Mussolini and his leadership within the context of the weekly's promotion of italianità.