Roseto Valfortore ( Irpino: ) is a small town and ''

comune A (; : , ) is an administrative division of Italy, roughly equivalent to a township or municipality. It is the third-level administrative division of Italy, after regions () and provinces (). The can also have the City status in Italy, titl ...

'' of the

Province of Foggia The province of Foggia (, ; Neapolitan language, Foggiano: ) is a Provinces of Italy, province in the Regions of Italy, Italian region Apulia. This province is also known as Daunia, after the Daunians, an Iapygians, Iapygian pre-Roman tribe livi ...

, in the

Apulia Apulia ( ), also known by its Italian language, Italian name Puglia (), is a Regions of Italy, region of Italy, located in the Southern Italy, southern peninsular section of the country, bordering the Adriatic Sea to the east, the Strait of Ot ...

Region of southeastern

Italy Italy, officially the Italian Republic, is a country in Southern Europe, Southern and Western Europe, Western Europe. It consists of Italian Peninsula, a peninsula that extends into the Mediterranean Sea, with the Alps on its northern land b ...

. Located in the Daunian Mountains near Fortore springs, Roseto Valfortore is one of

I Borghi più belli d'Italia () is a non-profit private association of small Italian towns of strong historical and artistic interest, that was founded in March 2001 on the initiative of the Tourism Council of the National Association of Italian Municipalities, with the a ...

("The most beautiful villages of Italy").

Geography

The landscape surrounding Roseto Valfortore is rolling hills and low mountains, with the river Fortore flowing below the town. It gives the valley its name, ''Valfortore'' ("Valley of the Fortore"). The hills surrounding Roseto have electric power windmills. Roseto Valfortore is a traditional Italian hill town, with predominantly stone and masonry buildings in the older sections. Historic stone churches include the ''Cappella della Consolazione'', ''Santa Maria Assunta'', and ''San Nicola''.

Emigration

There have been numerous waves of

emigration Emigration is the act of leaving a resident country or place of residence with the intent to settle elsewhere (to permanently leave a country). Conversely, immigration describes the movement of people into one country from another (to permanentl ...

from the town of Roseto Valfortore since the late 19th century. The first

immigrant Immigration is the international movement of people to a destination country of which they are not usual residents or where they do not possess nationality in order to settle as permanent residents. Commuters, tourists, and other short- ...

s to the United States from there arrived in the

Lehigh Valley The Lehigh Valley () is a geography, geographic and urban area, metropolitan region formed by the Lehigh River in Lehigh County, Pennsylvania, Lehigh and Northampton County, Pennsylvania, Northampton counties in eastern Pennsylvania. It is a co ...

Pennsylvania Pennsylvania, officially the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, is a U.S. state, state spanning the Mid-Atlantic (United States), Mid-Atlantic, Northeastern United States, Northeastern, Appalachian, and Great Lakes region, Great Lakes regions o ...

in 1883, to work in the local

slate Slate is a fine-grained, foliated, homogeneous, metamorphic rock derived from an original shale-type sedimentary rock composed of clay or volcanic ash through low-grade, regional metamorphism. It is the finest-grained foliated metamorphic ro ...

quarries.Gladwell, Malcolm; "The Outliers"; Little, Brown & Co; 2008; pp. 3-11 They settled in Bangor first, then bought land in the area, and established the settlement of Roseto, an Italian cultural enclave named after their home village. In 1894 alone, 1,200 residents of Roseto Valfortore applied for passports to the U.S. In the 1920s, 1930s, 1940s and 1950s it was recorded that many migrated to

Youngstown, Ohio Youngstown is a city in Mahoning County, Ohio, United States, and its county seat. It is the List of municipalities in Ohio, 11th-most populous city in Ohio with a population of 60,068 at the 2020 United States census, 2020 census. The Mahoning ...

and surrounding areas. Many migrants worked in the

steel mill A steel mill or steelworks is an industrial plant for the manufacture of steel. It may be an integrated steel works carrying out all steps of steelmaking from smelting iron ore to rolled product, but may also be a plant where steel semi-fini ...

s in Ohio. Throughout the 1950s and 1960s more than 3,000 Rosetani migrated to

Toronto Toronto ( , locally pronounced or ) is the List of the largest municipalities in Canada by population, most populous city in Canada. It is the capital city of the Provinces and territories of Canada, Canadian province of Ontario. With a p ...

and its surrounding areas, as well as to Washington D.C.

References

External links

Official website
Cities and towns in Apulia Borghi più belli d'Italia {{Puglia-geo-stub