The descendants of Italian immigrants towards to the land of their ancestors

Abstract

In Brazil, the immigrant project from the second half of the 19th century, was based on small family property. Minas Gerais was a secondary destination for Italian immigrant families. In this context, Itueta and Santa Rita do Itueto received, at the beginning of the 20th century, families of Italian immigrants from Northern Italy, mainly from the Veneto region. These families promoted a new configuration for this territory, introducing new techniques for land management and new customs. From the end of the twentieth century, another migratory movement was carried out by the descendants of the younger generations, this time towards the land of their grandparents, Italy. Through in-depth interviews with descendants who emigrated to Italy and returned to Brazil, we sought to understand their reasons for emigrating, their daily lives in the destination and how they perceived their Italianity in the land of their ancestors and, in return, what the perception of your Brazilianness. In Italian lands, how they dealt with the situation of being Brazilian foreigners and, at the same time, Italians descendants. The data show that if before emigrating they considered themselves descendants, in return they reaffirm their identity as Brazilians, because in the destination they understand that all their Italianity is not reflective.