Italian Texans

Until the mid-19th century, Italians coming to the Texas area were adventurers, explorers, or soldiers. Italian explorers, from the 15th and 16th centuries, were well known indeed, but none came in the service of an Italian city or province. In the mid-16th century—and for many years before and after—the Italian peninsula was a mass of republics, city-states, kingdoms, and duchies. Some enjoyed fair economic independence, but none could mount New World exploration like Spain and Portugal. Thus, adventurous Italian soldiers and sailors took employment elsewhere.

According to some documentation, Amerigo Vespucci saw the coast of future Texas in 1497 while determining for Ferdinand of Aragon whether the new lands of Columbus were Asia—or an unknown continent. Vespucci did not command the voyage but was official observer for the king on this and three later voyages more of confirmation than exploration.

A number of the soldiers with Vásquez de Coronado's expedition as it crossed Texas's high plains were Italian. Later, Henri de Tonti, serving his commander and friend Sieur de La Salle, entered Texas in 1686 and 1689 searching for La Salle's settlement and made records of his visit. Tonti, born near Rome, was a resourceful and colorful Italian, known in the New World for his artificial hand made from copper and his presence up and down the Mississippi.

Later Italians came to trade and stay. Vicente Micheli was an early Texas settler in the East Texas fur trade at Nacogdoches in 1793. Entering ranching and horse trading, Micheli moved to San Antonio after 1806. As owner of Rancho de San Francisco and a mercantile store, he called himself the “Merchant of Venice.”

During the Texas Revolution Giuseppe Cassini (called José Cassiano in San Antonio) provided the rebellious Texans with food from his store. For this he had to flee his home, but after the revolution he returned to San Antonio and became a land dealer with extensive holdings.

General Vicente Filisola was second in command to General López de Santa Anna during the revolution. Filisola proved a durable soldier, escaping attempts to make him a scapegoat for Mexico's loss of Texas. He remained in military life through the Mexican War. Stephen F. Austin, who met Filisola in 1833 before decisive hostilities, declared him a “blunt, honest, candid and prompt soldier . . . he is the friend of the farming and agricultural interests—a decided enemy of smugglers and lawyers.” General Filisola remained loyal to Mexico during the revolution, but others, such as Prospero Bernardi, fought on the other side with Sam Houston at San Jacinto.

La Tribuna Italiana

In 1870 only 186 Italians were listed on Texas's census records. But by 1920 the number was over 8,000. Significant Italian emigration was a part of the 1880-1920 surge from southern and eastern Europe. Many Italians in these decades, moving away from economic depression and warfare in Europe, headed for the coasts of the Gulf of Mexico. Texas received a substantial share.

And when they came in these years, the Italians most often settled with their geographic compatriots. Piedmontese settled in Montague County. Individuals from Venice and Modena joined Piedmontese in the coal mines of Thurber. Lombardy provided hands for the New York, Texas and Mexican Railway between Victoria and Rosenberg. And Sicilians settled in Galveston County and up the Brazos river valley.

Urban communities followed in Galveston, Houston, and San Antonio. As with other immigrant groups, many of the first arrivals, mostly younger men, settled to establish families.