Introduzione- Introduction

Ed Paraggio was born on January 2, 1922 in the small northern Italian town of Toppo, Italy.  After spending his childhood in Toppo, Ed immigrated with his sister and mother to America in order to join his father in Pittsburgh.  Ed and his family settled into a small apartment on Larimer Avenue in East Liberty, Pittsburgh's premier Little Italy throughout the first half of the twentieth century. In this Italian-American saturated Pittsburgh neighborhood, Ed passed the remainder of his youth amongst fellow immigrants hailing from northern Italy.  Although the Second World War would take him far away from his surrogate paese (village) in Pittsburgh, Ed's investment in the Italian American community of East Liberty was maintained by his participation in the Beneficial Society of North Italy, an Italian American fraternal organization. 

Click here to embark on a journey into Ed Paraggio's experiences as an Italian boy, an American soldier, and an Italian American man. test.docx