The presence of Italian heritage in Syracuse spans generations, encompassing a story of immigration, culture and planting roots that are still evident today.

It's a culture that Onondaga Historical Association's curator, Robert Searing, says spans more than a century.

"As long as you've got that heritage and as long as you've got those folks that are still out there telling those stories...there will always be a hint of that," Searing said.

It's a reminder of home for John Sereno who now lives in Syracuse.

"Being from Italy myself and being raised on the Northside of Syracuse, that's all I came accustomed to. I grew up with Italians. I grew up on the North side of Syracuse. There is a very prevalent Italian culture here," Sereno said.

Irish and German settlers came to Syracuse and Salina in the 1830s and 1840s. The Italians followed a few decades later.

“It really isn't until the 1880s that Italians really start immigrating into the United States and into Syracuse," Searing said.

First, they settled in Solvay to work at the Solvay Process Company. Then, they moved to the Northside of Syracuse. 

"The idea of coming into a place where there were Catholics is significant. The idea of feeling safe, the idea of being around people who speak the same language who share the same religion, who share the same culture…Northside becomes that sort of magnet community," Searing said.

The Northside was nicknamed Little Italy.

"Physically, they're building the city. I mean literally building the city. They're building the churches. They're building their buildings. They're setting up again their own family businesses," Searing said.

Business was booming in Little Italy, bringing restaurants, markets and the Catholic Churches in the area.

One notable business is Francesca’s. It's been around for generations.

"That restaurant in many respects and that block really is sort of all that's left to a degree of the height of Little Italy when you would've seen 20,000 people had three different Italian language newspapers being published on North Salina Street," Searing said. "You could've walked down North Salina Street and thought you were in Palermo or something."

By the 1970s, something changed. Many of the businesses, restaurants and shops ceased to exist.

During the peak of Little Italy, many Italians worked in factories in the area.

"The jobs just aren't there and so what you see is people in Syracuse are leaving the city and they're heading out. There just isn't that level of immigration from Italy that you had in the 1880's and 1900's," Searing said.

In the ‘70s, while Little Italy was dwindling, there was an effort to preserve its influence and culture with Ferragosto, or Italian Summer Celebration. Today, the culture is celebrated with the La Fest Italiana.

"The Northside of Syracuse remains to be called Little Italy and it should be. This is where we landed and this is where we want to stay," Sereno said.

"For the millions of Italians that came to the United States and for the tens of thousands who settled in Syracuse, their success, their overcoming the adversity, their ability to both have pride in their culture and to help build out America, I think is tale that gives hope...,” Searing said.