Albany's Columbus Parade & Italian Festival - with its sharing of music, food and entertainment - help to forge cultural identity among Italian-Americans and serves to teach others about Italian-American heritage.

The parade and festival salute the contributions and celebrate the heritage of Italian-Americans in the Capital Region -- in conjunction with the national holiday celebrating the discovery of America by Italian explorer Christopher Columbus.

The annual parade and festival are sponsored by the City of Albany, the West Albany Italian Benevolent Society, Italian American Community Center and Roma Intangible Lodge 215/ Order Sons of Italy.

STATISTICS
Today, Italian-Americans comprise the 5th largest ethnic group in the U.S.

Albany ranks as 13th among cities in the United States with the most Italian-Americans within its population. (U.S. Census Data, 1990)

Italian-Americans have helped to build, shape and enrich the life of Albany, while sharing their cultural traditions that include dedication to hard work, a commitment to fairness for all people and maintaining the importance of “la familia,” the family unit. Italian-Americans were instrumental in building the railroads, with many working for the New York Central - one of the largest industrial employers in Albany by 1900. Beginning in the late 19th century, Italian carpenters, artisans and businessmen came to Albany. Many worked on the New York State Capitol Building and helped build Harmanus Bleecker Hall and the office and depot of the Delaware and Hudson Canal Co.

• Since Albany's founding in the early 17th century, people from a variety of cultures have found work, raised families and established social, economic and cultural networks in Albany.
• Shortly after the turn of the century, Albany began to witness a growing migration of people from Italy to the United States. Hoping to escape poverty and political oppression of rural southern Italy, 2,205 men, women and children had made Albany their home by 1910.
• Attracted to Albany by the prospect of steady employment, many men found work in the railroad and construction industries. Others established businesses.
• Like successive waves of late 19th century European immigrants, they first settled in ethnically diverse neighborhood framed by Madison Avenue and Grand Street in Albany's South End. There they established a thriving community, complete with import stores, bakeries, restaurants, dealers, barbers, shoemakers, St. Anthony' s Church, mutual benefit societies, newspapers and private banks.
• By the end of World War II, many second-generation Italians started to move away from the old South End neighborhood, often referred to as “Little Italy.” They built new homes and raised families in such areas as Western Avenue near Russell Road, Delaware Avenue near St. James Church and around Central Avenue in Colonie. Many families who remained in the South End were forced to leave in the 1960s to make way for the construction of the Empire State Plaza.