HWS News
1 August 2025 • Service Preserving a Community's History
Hobart and William Smith students design a project that tells the story of Geneva’s Italian immigrants.
Speaking to a crowd at The Order Sons and Daughters of Italy in America Geneva Lodge 2397 this spring, Hannah Angelico ’25, Joey Tello Galicia ’25 and Gianluca LoPorto ’25 reflected on their work to share the stories of Geneva’s Italian community during the opening of the lodge’s Heritage Room.
The three students, in conjunction with Historic Geneva and members of the lodge, worked alongside HWS Instructor of Italian Sebastiano Lucci to analyze photos, newspaper clippings, stories and other artifacts of the city's Italian community over the semester. From their findings, they were able to tell the story of Geneva’s Italian immigrants, from when they arrived in the city, to where they lived, shopped and played.
“Local history like this truly matters, not just for posterity for the books, but it honors the people who have passed on,” says Angelico.
Tello Galicia says this project is important because many of the challenges Italian immigrants faced in the 19th and 20th centuries, including language barriers, discrimination and economic hardships, are the same obstacles that today’s immigrants continue to encounter.
“Understanding the past helps us shape the future,” says Tello Galicia. “By remembering the stories of Geneva’s Italian immigrants, we foster empathy, inform policy and honor the resilience that defines the American immigrant experience.”
LoPorto says that while he and the other students won’t be around to see the evolution of lodge’s new Heritage Room, the work they’ve done is just the start.
“It is an opening, but it is not complete,” he says.
The students were joined at the presentation by President Mark D. Gearan and Historic Geneva Curator of Collections and Exhibits John Marks.
Prior to the opening of the Heritage Room, a screening of the short film “Dandelions” was shown. “Dandelions” follows Bill Ventura and his routine of going to Geneva’s public spaces each spring to pick dandelions for a salad, an Italian tradition.
Top: HWS Instructor of Italian Sebastiano Lucci joins Gianluca LoPorto ’25, Hannah Angelico ’25 and Joey Tello Galicia ’25 at the opening of the Heritage Room at The Order Sons and Daughters of Italy in America Geneva Lodge 2397.
