Successful podcast "cresciutoitaliano" talks about the relationship between Italy and the States

Italy and the United States are connected by a mutual fascination, which has recently exploded on TikTok and Instagram thanks to the page and podcast cresciutoitaliano. Through the account, Italian-American creators share their opinions on traditions, customs, and especially the Italian language. The podcast originates from the English-language YouTube version, Growing Up Italian, where siblings Sabino and Michela Curcio, along with their cousin Rocco Loguercio, recount the experiences of second- and third-generation Italian-American families. Over the years, numerous Italian artists have participated in the program, sharing their lifestyles, such as Guè, Alessandro Cattelan, Sfera Ebbasta, and Salvatore Esposito, who have shared their stories, impressions of Italy, and engaged with the American gaze of Italian-Americans towards the Bel Paese.

From this, the latest idea was born: cresciutoitaliano, a podcast entirely in Italian, created by the same creators who have English as their first language. The clips shared on TikTok and Instagram are enjoying huge success, with some videos reaching over 2 million views: the secret, it seems, lies in speaking Italian with an Italian-American slang. The regular guests are Big Joe Gambino and Mario Bosco, two content creators and actors who speak with strong Neapolitan and Sicilian accents, respectively, discussing topics such as zeppole di San Giuseppe, the way people answer the phone in Italy, or whether it is acceptable to put «l’anis ontopp a pizza» (pineapple on pizza).

From the comments, it emerges that the biggest supporters of the Italian-American quartet are Italians themselves. «Big Joe is the only one with true Italian style and speech», «Mario Bosco speaks Italian much better than the average Italian» are among the most shared comments on the app, along with, of course, heated discussions about food – «If you go to Rome and ask for a “pollo parmigiana,” they’ll beat you up». On one hand, this enthusiasm is due to the fact that the Italian community in the United States is seen as an extension of the peninsula, and as a result, the subtle differences that distinguish it are highly intriguing. On the other hand, the creators and the Italian-American community maintain a strong bond with Italy, almost mythologizing it and celebrating its traditions. This deep connection has ancient roots, dating back to the famous migrations to the United States in the mid-19th and mid-20th centuries—later reinforced, albeit to a lesser extent, by the migration caused by the 2008 recession—which have contributed to the creation of the Italian myth in the United States.

But how many Italians live abroad, and how many Italian-Americans are there?

According to Istat, currently, 5.94 million Italians live abroad. This large number is growing, mainly thanks to ius sanguinis—a direct consequence of past mass migrations—which allows a newborn to acquire citizenship simply by being the child or descendant of an Italian. As for Italian-Americans, however, the story is different: they hold American citizenship and have Italian ancestry, making them considered an ethnic group. Since 2010, the United States government has removed "Italian-American" as an ethnicity option from the census. At that time, the number of self-identified Italian-Americans exceeded 17 million, while according to estimates from the National Italian American Foundation, in 2025, the community will contain around 26 million people.

The relationship with the language also presents different nuances. Italian is the primary or secondary language not only of the 60 million inhabitants of the peninsula but also of all people living abroad. According to a study by Ethnologue, Italian is the 31st most spoken language in the world and the 6th most studied language according to Babbel, confirming its cultural appeal and importance. However, the language used by Italian-Americans cannot be considered linguistically Italian. Italian-American actually has the status of a Creole language, with its own characteristics, and its speakers are considered diglossic: Italian-American is used in different social contexts than English, chosen hierarchically depending on the situation. Just watching an episode of cresciutoitaliano makes it clear how this variant, while understandable to an Italian, sounds unusual and amusing to our ears: words like Nuova Yokki, noccelli (hazelnuts), vulpre (fox), preuto (priest), Broccolino (Brooklyn), and expressions like uaglio’ or guappo evoke a scene straight out of The Sopranos.