Il Viaggio is not a ‘goody-goody’ story about Italians who came to America, worked hard, and prospered. Nor is it a story about Nona’s red sauce! Instead, it is a collection of anecdotes and musings that chronicle the arduous journey to become American. Some tell of little-known or forgotten events. Others document people and lives that would be forever lost as families move further from their Italian heritage. It is a love letter to the unsung heroes of the Italian Diaspora—those who left the land they loved for the hope of a better life, those who died in America's coal mines and factories, and those who fought and died for their new homeland, some on the battlefield of their ancestors.