A Family History

I love the Village. From the diagonal streets that don’t fit the strict grid formation of midtown and uptown to the rustic townhouses that transport you far away from the shiny sky-scrapers, traffic filled roads, and the unnecessary rush that New York City inspires in all of us, Greenwich Village is an oasis. It was a jazz village from the 1930s to the 1960s,  and was also home to the Bohemian artists and other “creative types,” according to Mary Elizabeth Brown, author of From Italian Villages to Greenwich Village: Our Lady of Pompeii 1892-1992. 

However, while famous musicians and artists have graced the streets of the Village, leaving behind a culture and history unlike anything else, the reason the Village means so much to me was that it supported a population of Italian immigrants, all trying to create something for themselves in New York City.

One of those immigrants was my great-great-grandfather, Antonio “Papa” Rossano. Rossano came to America from Sorrento, Italy when he was 24-years-old. He established himself in the Village, working as a landowner and using the real estate savvy that most Italians brought with them back from the motherland. He ended up owning seven buildings. Along with these buildings, Rossano ran a grocery store on 7th Avenue, that became a well-known establishment during Prohibition. After the dry era ended and liquor was once again allowed to be enjoyed by the American people, Rossano turned his grocery store into a liquor store and kept it running up until his death.

A section of Antonio Rossano’s obituary. 

With the money he made, he was able to donate an altar, two stained-glass windows in memoriam to his wife and son, Raffaella and Enrico,  and church bells, one for each of his children (which totaled to 8), his wife and himself, to Our Lady of Pompeii church. He was also able to turn the family vault at St. John’s cemetery in Queens into a museum of sorts, filling it with family keepsakes to honor those who had died.

Antonio “Papa” Rossano, nicknamed for his paternal affections towards everyone, including tenets, and his charitable nature, is just a slice of my family history in the village, as well as just another man who contributed to the culture of the Village. People like him were the people that made the village what it is; this salad mixer of different peoples who added something to history, no matter how large or small.

*Photos provided by Janet Elmers and Lois Szerkal.