The Shoemaker’s Wife spans generational, geographical, and cultural boundaries to explore the Italian immigrant experience in the 20th-century US. The novel begins in the Italian Alps and traces Ciro Lazzari’s and Enza Ravanelli’s journeys from their small Alpine villages, across the Atlantic Ocean, and to new lives in New York City. Their stories are loosely inspired by Trigiani’s grandparents’ immigration stories and incorporate themes of resilience, perseverance, sacrifice, and adventure.

Ellis Island saw a surge of Italian immigrants in the early- and mid-20th century, primarily because of political instability, natural disasters, and the devastating economic impact of unification on agrarian life: “Decades of internal strife had left a legacy of violence, social chaos, and widespread poverty” across Italy, leaving “peasants in the primarily poor, mostly rural south of Italy and on the island of Sicily [with] little hope of improving their lot” (“Immigration and Relocation in U.S. History: The Great Arrival.” Library of Congress). The first waves of Italian immigrants were artisans and craftsmen seeking work to support their families back in the home country. Over the following years, stories of prosperity in the US continued to spread overseas and inspired another uptick of Italian immigrants. This second wave consisted of more farmers and laborers. Although of different economic and vocational backgrounds, these immigrants also worked to support their families back home.

As depicted in The Shoemaker’s Wife, immigrants like Ciro and Enza traveled to the US because they lacked job opportunities or vocational futures back home. Many intended to someday return home (as Luigi does in the novel after Pappina’s death), but most became immersed in their new life abroad. Like many Italian immigrants of the time, Ciro and Enza form new communities, reshaping their cultural identities to marry the traditions and celebrations of their home country with the individualism and verve of American life.