Lindsay Marie Morris

I was born in Milwaukee, a place known for beer and bratwurst. But starting in the 1890s, it was also home to significant numbers of Italian immigrants, particularly from Sicily.

 

My nonna and her family settled in Milwaukee in the late 1930s. She and my nonno, who arrived after World War II, shopped at Sicilian-owned Glorioso's and Peter Sciortino's Bakery. 

In later years, Nonno would meet us at Milwaukee's Festa Italiana, the city's longest-running ethnic festival, where we'd eat arancini and cannoli, watch folk singers and dancers, and stay for the Bartolotta fireworks. 

 

I recently stumbled upon Storia Italia: Milwaukee, a documentary that aired on Milwaukee Public Television. While broadcast in 2015, the themes remain relevant, and it was a joy to see familiar names, faces, and storefronts. This was the Milwaukee that my family knew.

 

The documentary not only highlights Milwaukee's historically Italian neighborhoods—the Third Ward, Brady Street on Milwaukee's lower east side, and Bayview—but also shares personal stories of what these immigrants had to overcome, the contributions of Italians to Brew City, and reflections on what it means to be Italian in Milwaukee today. 

 

I reached out to producer Maryann Lazarski to learn more about the making of this important documentary.

 

A veteran broadcast journalist, television producer, and educator, Maryann produced and managed Milwaukee's ABC affiliate, WISN-TV, for 20 years. More recently, she retired after a decade at Milwaukee PBS, where she produced a newsmagazine program and documentaries for broadcast and digital. Maryann has taught broadcast journalism and communications at the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee and Cardinal Stritch University. She currently teaches a multimedia news storytelling class at her alma mater (and mine), Marquette University. She also serves as president of the Milwaukee Press Club, the oldest continuously operating press club in North America.

 

 

What inspired the creation of Storia Italia: Milwaukee?

This was the first documentary I produced for Milwaukee PBS (Milwaukee Public Television, MPTV, at the time). National PBS was airing a series called The Italian Americans, and the station wanted to have a local documentary to tie into the national broadcast.

So, I decided to visit Milwaukee's Italian Community Center, which displays hundreds of photographs of local Italian immigrants. At the time, I met with the center's historian, who was a wealth of information.

 

Milwaukee's Central Library. Carol M. Highsmith Photography

 

How did Italian immigrants contribute to the development of Milwaukee?

Many of the immigrants were artisans/sculptors who helped beautify the city's grandest buildings, including Central Library along Wisconsin Avenue, with Italian marble and tile. The immigrant men worked in factories and on the railroads, and others became entrepreneurs, primarily in the grocery business.

 

What challenges did the first Italian immigrants face when they arrived in Milwaukee?

As mentioned in the documentary, the language was a challenge for the immigrants. Even among the different "groups," they had different dialects, so it was often hard for them to communicate with each other. They didn't know how to read and write.

Housing was limited. Some lived with relatives who already arrived in Milwaukee.

Many were unskilled, so they learned trades or worked in the factories or on the railroads.

 

Tell us about the core neighborhoods where Italians settled and some of the businesses that reflect that history.

In Milwaukee's Third Ward—as mentioned in the documentary—was an area called Commission Row, where fruits and vegetables would be delivered. Other small Italian meat and grocery markets popped up there. Other Italians migrated to Brady Street on the lower east side of Milwaukee. 

 

 
Blessed Virgin of Pompeii Church. Photo courtesy of Pompeii Men's Club.

 

You mention the Blessed Virgin of Pompeii Church. What role did the so-called Little Pink Church have in the community? 

The Little Pink Church was a sacred space for the Italian immigrants to gather and share their Catholic faith. During this time, they also had church street festivals and honored Mary. The Italians were heartbroken when the church was bulldozed to expand the highway. There's still a marker commemorating where it once stood. That's when many moved to Brady Street and attended St. Rita of Casia church on the east side of Milwaukee.

The developer of the senior community center and housing is also Italian. He wanted to bring back the Little Pink Church, so he incorporated a new Little Pink Church into the complex.

 

Fest Italiana mass. Photo courtesy of Pompeii Men's Club.

 

How have Italian-Americans preserved and celebrated their heritage in Milwaukee?

Festa Italiana is a popular summer festival along the lakefront on the Henry Maier Festival Grounds. Milwaukee is known for its ethnic festivals throughout the summer.  

 

Along Brady Street—where Italian immigrants once settled—there is an iconic Italian market called Glorioso's that's celebrating nearly 80 years. They just sold to new owners but will keep the traditions there intact. 

On another part of town, in an area called Bay View, there's another iconic Italian corner market called Groppi's. 

 

What do you hope viewers will take away from Storia Italia: Milwaukee?

Storia Italia is a story about immigrants and community. I would like viewers to listen carefully and appreciate what these immigrants went through to seek better lives and contribute to a city like Milwaukee. Their dedication to their faith is something to be admired and respected. Those of us who live here certainly appreciate the Italian and Sicilian culture and what they brought to our community, including a strong work ethic, camaraderie, Italian art, and, of course, great food! 

 

 

 

 

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A fixture of Milwaukee's Bay View, Pietro's Pizza has been serving pies since 1973, when Sicilian baker Filippo Tarantino finally saved up enough to open its doors, 14 years after he arrived in the United States. He named it after his son Pietro, who still now owns the popular business. 

 

A longtime member of Milwaukee's Italian Community Center who also served multiple terms on ICC's board of directors, Pietro co-hosted the public radio program Italian Hour with his sister, Enrica Tarantino-Woytal, for 25 years. He also served as the liaison between the Italian Community Center and Chicago's Consulate General of Italy and was part of the Comites, the Committee of Italians Abroad. In 2019, he earned the rank of Cavaliere dell'Ordine della Stella d'Italia, one of Italy's highest civilian honors. 

 

Pietro is what we Sicilians would call a paisano. He hails from the town of Porticello, where my grandparents grew up and where I still have family. We recently discussed how Pietro ended up in Milwaukee, his memories of Sicily, and, of course, pizza.

 

 

Tell us about yourself and how you ended up in Milwaukee.

I was born in Porticello and attended school there. When I was 15 years old, I came to the U.S. in 1969.

My father had already lived in Milwaukee for 10 years, working for Grebe's Bakery. He came here in 1959 on a labor contract visa. He was a master baker in Porticello, with his own bakery not too far from the tobacco store.

 

Some of my family on both sides, on my father's side and then on my mother's side, had been in Milwaukee. Actually, my grandfather on my father's side was here in 1895 and left in 1905. He was here for 10 years. Then, my grandfather, who was on my mother's side, was here from 1922 until 1933. So there were some roots here, and my great aunt lived there. That's why he came here.

 

In Milwaukee, my father also worked at Angelo's Pizza, where he was the dough maker. He used to go there every day from noon until two or three to make their pizza dough. Then he would come home, have a cup of coffee, hop on the bus again, and go to Grebe's Bakery. He started working around 4:30 in the afternoon.

 

Tell us about your memories of Porticello.

Porticello? It's a dream. When you live there, you don't know what kind of treasures you have. It's just like when someone is free and doesn't know what freedom is until they go to another country where they've been controlled. You know what I mean? That town is a gem.

 

When I return, I always go to the old side, not the new one. And a lot of people ask me, "How come you're hanging around the old portion of town?" Well, that's where my memories are. That's where my youth was. That's where I used to walk with my grandfather. That's what I played with the other kids. We used to play around in Punta Santa Nicolicchia. 

 

So that is Porticello. It's a sweet place. It's a dream. I mean, all of Sicily is like that. You look to the right, and there is water; you look to the left, and there are mountains. And the beauty is that within 10 minutes of traveling, there is so much diversity. That's unbelievable. You go from flowers all the way up to pine trees and then on top of the port to those ruins at Solunto. One does not know what you have until you leave.

In Porticello, at night, you can open your windows, close your eyes, and hear the waves hitting the rocks. You don't need to have the TV on. You don't need to go to the nightclub for heavy music. Nature is to be appreciated. And then, of course, fresh fish comes there daily. And you can eat that fish. You can actually eat fish at eight o'clock that were caught maybe at four or five. So when you cook it, it's still alive. So that's the beauty of it.

 

You know what? You can take me away from Porticello, but you cannot take Porticello away from my heart.

Unless you are an immigrant, you really don't know the feeling of going away from the way life was. It's my culture, even though I've lived in America for 55 years now.

But Milwaukee is part of my life as well. 

 

Let's talk about Milwaukee.

Milwaukee has been good to the Italians. Milwaukee is a good community: nice, quiet, clean. They accept everybody—Milwaukee's good, period. And you know where the Italians went? Most of it went to the east side, and the other portion went to the Bayview area. We went to the Bayview area.

I've done a lot in Milwaukee. I went to school, I got my degrees, I did numerous jobs, and I made sure that the pizza place stayed open in order to hit 50 years. Right now, it's 51 years.

 

What are some of the ingredients and techniques that reflect your father's legacy?

The dough is the main thing. And I had to master that because with my dad, he never measured anything. It was just a little bit of this, a little bit of that. So it was very difficult. But I had to learn and ask questions because making dough is very difficult. You have to check the temperature and humidity, which tells you how much yeast or the temperature of the water you have to use. You need to know what kind of flour you need, even though it's the same brand. So you have to be careful.

 

That's the main thing that my father mastered. After all, when my father was a baker, it's not like nowadays, where you dump your dry ingredients in the mixing bowl and have the water that's already been measured, and you're done. They'd make their own yeast, what they call lievito madre. I remember my father used to go at 11 o'clock at night to do that. 

 

What's your signature pizza? 

I'm dealing with an American clientele, so the pizza we sell the most is cheese, sausage, mushrooms, and onions. But my father's signature was sfincione.

 

We make sfincione for the Italian Golf Invitational. And I make it every year. 

 

What do you hope your customers will take away from their dining experience?

Well, first of all, it's very fresh. I mean, I make dough every day right now. I use the freshest ingredients that I can. The vegetables and sausage are fresh, too. I get it delivered every week. Nothing is pre-cooked.

After being in the same location for that long, I've built rapport with all the people in Bay View. Some of the customers are the grandkids of the people we served when we started.

 

You have that kind of relationship with the clientele; that's the best thing, the human side of it. It's fantastic. It actually helped me grow. That's why I love Milwaukee as well.

 

 

 

 

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