The other of the novel’s protagonists, Ciro Lazzari, is born in the Italian Alps, like Enza. When Ciro is a young child, his father, Carlo Lazzari, leaves to work in the coal mines in Minnesota and sends money home. However, Carlo dies in a mining accident in Hibbing in 1904. After his death, Ciro’s mother, Caterina Lazzari, has a nervous breakdown and is incapable of emotionally and financially supporting Ciro and his older brother, Eduardo. She takes the boys to the San Nicola convent but never makes good on her promise to return and collect them. These early childhood encounters with loss, abandonment, and suffering haunt Ciro for the rest of his life.

Despite his sorrow, Ciro grows up to be a strong and capable young man. He’s athletic and resilient. By the time he’s 15, he’s “nearly six feet tall,” with “sandy brown hair and blue-green eyes” (31). An incorrigible flirt, he delights in winning young women’s attention with his charm and wit. Although his handsomeness is obvious, Ciro is often disregarded because he’s a working-class orphan. His unrequited love for Concetta at the convent underscores his feelings of rejection and isolation. However, he feels seen and understood from the first moment he meets Enza Ravanelli. She has “something that Ciro [has] not seen in any girl before—she [is] curious [and] alert” (78). He feels drawn to her even before he gets to know her well. However, geography and circumstances keep Ciro from acting on his feelings for Enza. Over the following years, he remembers his connection to her both when they’re apart and whenever they happen to reconnect, illustrating the theme of Love Enduring Through Hardship.

Ciro is an independent and self-driven character. He learned his independence and perseverance in childhood. When he ventures to the US, he’s overcome with sorrow at having to leave his brother, confidante, and best friend behind; without Eduardo, Ciro is unsure how he’ll survive. Despite his sorrow, Ciro doesn’t give up and quickly makes a life for himself via the Zanetti Shoe Repair Shop. He never lets himself feel too deeply and distracts himself with diverting romances and hard work. When he discovers that Enza has also immigrated to the US, he begins to wonder if they might have a future together. Without Enza, his life is driven by rugged individualism and dreams of vocational success. With Enza, Ciro wonders if he might create the family life he never had as a child.

After Ciro fights in World War I, he returns to the US and proposes to Enza. The war has clarified what matters to him and what’s worth living for. His passionate profession of love at the end of Part 2 wins Enza over and begins their marital journey together in Part 3.

Ciro dies of cancer he developed due to mustard gas exposure in the war. His diagnosis and prognosis devastate him because he can’t bear the thought of abandoning Enza or their young son, Antonio. Even still, Ciro feels grateful for the love and happiness that he and his family fostered together.

Laura Heery is a secondary character. She’s Enza’s best friend and fulfills the role of Enza’s archetypal guide throughout her time in Hoboken and New York City. Enza and Laura meet through their factory job shortly after Enza immigrates to the US. The “girls in the factory [are] usually cordial during work hours, yet rarely [do] the friendships continue outside the cutting-room doors” (194); however, Laura and Enza are an exception. They connect over their shared love for sewing and textiles, and strike up an easy friendship despite their overt differences. Laura is a US citizen and has a more bold and outgoing spirit, but she never disparages the subdued Enza. Rather, she consistently “[lifts] Enza’s spirits” (197) and reminds her that in the US, she can do and become whatever she pleases. With Laura’s encouragement, Enza believes that “the future [will] fall into place, like the stitches on a hem, one leading to the next” (198).

Laura facilitates Enza’s move from Hoboken to Manhattan. She rescues her from her sexual assailant and accompanies her across the river to make a new life. The two make an excellent team. They pursue jobs and housing together, and they explore the city when they aren’t working. They share in all parts of life, celebrating one another’s joys and successes and mourning one another’s disappointments and losses. They remain friends throughout the novel, and their connection sustains Enza even when they move apart.

Another of the novel’s secondary characters, Marco Ravanelli, is Enza’s father. He’s married to Giacomina, with whom he has six children. After his daughter Stella dies, he loses the faithful horse he needs to operate his coach, and his landlord kicks the family out of their home. Marco panics that he won’t be able to support his family. He’s reluctant to leave the Alps but takes Enza’s advice to go to the US to find work to support the family. Marco is a quintessential paternal figure who makes sacrifices for his loved ones. He’s devoted to his wife and children, even when he can’t be with them. Marco is particularly fond of and attached to Enza, and he worries about her future after learning that she’ll never be able to return home to the mountain. Despite his sorrow over losing Enza, Marco gives his blessing to her and Ciro. He’s happy that Enza has fallen in love with someone from home, someone who can always connect her to her origins.

Ciro’s older brother, Eduardo, is another secondary character. The two boys share both parents, Caterina and Carlo. Eduardo becomes Ciro’s archetypal guide when the boys are young. He helps protect and care for Ciro after their mother leaves them at the convent. He reassures and comforts his brother through his sorrow, and looks out for him as he grows up, always ensuring that Ciro is working hard and growing into a good young man. He thus assumes a pseudo-parental role in Ciro’s life, but he’s never domineering or overbearing.

Because of their close bond, Ciro is devastated when Eduardo decides to pursue a life in the church in Rome when they leave the convent. He wishes Eduardo would quit the church and accompany him to the US. At the same time, he respects his brother for being studious and devout, even if their religious beliefs don’t exactly align. Eduardo tries to keep in touch with Ciro as best he can over the years, but the brothers ultimately must learn to live apart.