ST. LOUIS, MO—A new book from St.Louis-based Reedy Press tells the story of the city's beloved Italian enclave. The Hill: St. Louis's Italian American Neighborhood by LynnMarie Alexander is available wherever books are sold.
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Italian Americans on The Hill in St. Louis enjoy a community founded and influenced by their ancestors over four or even five generations. Visitors muse how a 50-square-block neighborhood manages to keep its ethnic identity, spiritual anchor, and protective sense of community decades after immigrants relied on those tools of survival to make a new home in America.
Many Italian American immigrant communities across the United States withered as new generations became "Ameriganis" forgoing their sense of family ties and ancestral history in favor of university educations, professional careers, and suburban homes. By contrast, The Hill neighborhood in St. Louis uses family, spirituality, and kinship as an anchor, demonstrating loyalty to home and neighbors as honorable and enviable.
Today, third and fourth generation young professional families are choosing to raise their children in the city on The Hill, sending them to church and school at St. Ambrose. Take a walk down the streets of an iconic Italian-American neighborhood that houses 27 Italian restaurants and delis, all family owned. Contemplate in the new piazza with a fountain and marble from Italy and take in the majestic St. Ambrose Catholic Church reminiscent of the Cathedral of Milan. The neighborhood's residential architecture offers a dizzying array of traditional shotgun homes, old shops and taverns creatively rehabbed as houses, and old businesses living a new life in the digital age.
The Hill: St. Louis's Italian American Neighborhood offers insight to the immigrant experience. Enticing vignettes paired with rich history and iconic photos prepare readers for a visit to The Hill, a St. Louis attraction second only to the Gateway Arch. The neighborhood's spirit is lovingly brought to life by LynnMarie Alexander, a fourth generation Italian American living in her great grandparents' home which has been in the Puricelli family since 1907. She walks a half of a block to her job as the Director/Archivist of The Hill Neighborhood Center sponsored by Hill 2000 Neighborhood Association and The Hill Business Association.
BOOK SIGNINGS FOR THE HILL: ST. LOUIS'S ITALIAN AMERICAN NEIGHBORHOOD
Saturday, October 31 from 10:30 a.m. to 1:30 p.m.
Hill Neighborhood Center
1935 Marconi Ave
St. Louis, MO 63110
(314) 260-9162
Official Book launch by author
Free and open to the public
Saturday, November 7 from 10 a.m. to noon
Urzi's Italian Market
5430 Southwest Ave
St. Louis, MO 63139
(314) 645-3914
Free and open to the public
Saturday, November 14 from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m.
Oliva On The Hill
4915 Daggett Ave
St. Louis, MO 63110
(314) 961-7588
Free and open to the public
Friday, December 4 from 5 p.m. to 7 p.m.
Abigail's Gift Boutique
5611 Hampton
St. Louis, MO 63109
(314) 300-8970
Free and open to the public
BOOK DETAILS
The Hill: St. Louis's Italian American Neighborhood
Author: LynnMarie Alexander, foreword by Joseph DeGregorio
Size: 11x11
Binding: Hardcover
Pages: 192
ISBN: 9781681062884
MEDIA NOTES:
For author interviews in person or by Zoom/Skype or additional images, contact Nancy Milton or Julie Lally with Insight PR St. Louis, insight@insightrocks.com; 314-962-6400 (o) or 618-791-8007 (m - Nancy) or 314-749-5915 (m - Julie). Images are available for download at the bottom of this communication. For more images, please ask.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
LynnMarie Alexander is a fourth generation Italian American living in her great grandparents' home which has been in the Puricelli family since 1907. She walks a half of a block to her job as the Director/Archivist of The Hill Neighborhood Center sponsored by Hill 2000 Neighborhood Association and The Hill Business Association.
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