During the Age of Mass Migration more than four million Italians reached the United States. The experience of Italians in US cities has been widely explored: however, the study of how migrants adjusted in relation to nature and food production is a relatively recent concern. Due to a mixture of racism and fear of political radicalism, Italians were deemed to be undesirable immigrants in East Coast cities and American authorities had long perceived Italian immigrants as unclean, unhealthy and carriers of diseases. As a flipside to this narrative, Italians were also believed to possess a ‘natural’ talent for agriculture, which encouraged Italian diplomats and politicians to propose the establishment of agricultural colonies in the southern United States. In rural areas Italians could profit from their agricultural skills and finally turn into ‘desirable immigrants’. The aim of this paper is to explore this ‘emigrant colonialism’ through the lens of environmental history, comparing the Italian and US diplomatic and public discourses on the potential and limits of Italians’ agricultural skills.

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在移民的非正式园艺实践和农业外交之间的美国意大利性（1880-1912）

在大规模移民时代，超过 400 万意大利人抵达美国。意大利人在美国城市的经历已被广泛探讨：然而，关于移民如何适应自然和粮食生产的研究是一个相对较新的问题。由于种族主义和对政治激进主义的恐惧，意大利人在东海岸城市被认为是不受欢迎的移民，美国当局长期以来一直认为意大利移民是不洁、不健康和疾病的携带者。作为这种说法的反面，意大利人也被认为具有“天生的”农业才能，这鼓励意大利外交官和政治家提议在美国南部建立农业殖民地。在农村地区，意大利人可以从他们的农业技能中获益，并最终成为“理想的移民”。本文的目的是通过环境史的视角探索这种“移民殖民主义”，比较意大利和美国关于意大利农业技能潜力和局限性的外交和公共话语。