Sicilian Immigration — The French Quarter's Italian Chapter

The French Quarter became more Italian than French by 1910. Sicilian immigrants arrived in huge numbers in the 1880s and 90s, settling streets that still carry French names. They ran the grocery stores, the fruit stalls, the restaurants. By the time the century turned, the neighborhood spoke Sicilian in its markets and ate what Sicily ate. In 1891, a New Orleans mob lynched eleven Italian men — one of the largest mass lynchings in American history. The event is largely absent from tourist narratives. No marker explains what happened. No plaque names the dead. Central Grocery on Decatur Street is where the story becomes tangible. This is where the muffuletta was invented — round Sicilian bread layered with salami, mortadella, provolone, and olive salad pressed until the oil soaks through. The sandwich is what survived. The grocery still stands. Walk in and you're standing in the room where immigrants made a city feed itself, in a neighborhood that tried to kill them and then couldn't function without them.