The Rolla (Mo.) Daily News reports that a new book, “Searching for Italy in America’s Rural Heartland,” contains a chapter about Italians who settled in the Rolla, Rosati and St. James region of central Missouri.
In the chapter about Rosati, Calvitto notes that a group of immigrants from Italy came to the United States and were destined to settle at the Sunnyside Plantation in Arkansas. They had been recruited as sharecroppers to work the cotton fields, but did not like what they found in Arkansas and decided to move to a place more like their northern Italian homeland.
In 1897, Antonio Piazza and Louis Zulpo were chosen to visit Knobview, now Rosati, and negotiate a land purchase from the railroad.
About a year later, 30 families arrived from Arkansas and began to develop Rosati. When their attempts to grow grapes from grape cuttings from Italy failed, Concord variety cuttings were acquired from nearby French immigrants. The new cuttings thrived and Rosati became known for its vineyards and wine.
By 1930, there were about 1,000 acres of vineyards in the area and a cooperative was formed to sell grapes to the Welch company, an arrangement that ended in the early 1990s.
Families, however, continue to grow and sell grapes, including some at roadside stands along old Route 66.
Those grape-sellers now get as much of their business from Route 66 travelers as anyone.
The other towns featured in the book are Krebs, Okla.; McAlester, Okla.; Herrin, Ill.; Clinton, Ind.; Oelwein, Iowa; and the Pittsburg-Frontenac area of Kansas.
The book is by Celeste Calvitto, and costs $14.95 with shipping. The book’s Web site is here.