Sull'altra riva: The Italian Immigrant “Home Front” in São Paulo during World War I

This paper surveys the activities of Italian immigrants residing in the metropolitan area of São Paulo, Brazil, to mobilize resources in support of the Italian war effort during World War I. It tracks the experiences of immigrants who enlisted in the Italian army from São Paulo. It reviews the actions of existing institutions such as the city’s chapter of the Italian Red Cross to collect resources like wool and coffee for delivery to the Alpine front. It examines the formation and work of new pro-war institutions like the ‘Pro-Patria’ committees, which raised funds through donations and war bonds programs for transfer to Italy. It investigates the role of São Paulo’s Italian-language newspapers in the distribution of nationalist propaganda materials in support of the war. And it explores the trans-Atlantic networks that were deployed to assist the war effort—communications, transportation, financial and institutional networks among them. This paper, thusly, investigates the structure and function of civil society in Italian immigrant communities situated in the city and state of São Paulo, a region that hosted one of the largest populations of overseas Italians during the early twentieth century. It also pays close attention to the linkages that existed between Italians residing in Greater São Paulo and the many individuals and institutions in Italy with which these immigrants were connected. This project uses the period of World War I as a vehicle for the study of interactions that took place within and outside of Italian immigrant communities, and to assess how those interactions could change over time. In doing so, it engages with broader questions related to how immigrant communities might respond to crises occurring in their homeland.