A deadly earthquake in central Italy is impacting the Italian-American community across the state.
Many still have family and friends living in Italy. Images of death and destruction in Italy are hard to watch for those thousands of miles away.
“I don’t believe what I am looking at. The devastation is just unbelievable,” says Bill Iovanne of New Haven.
Nowhere in the state might the connection to Italy be stronger than in East Haven. Nearly half the people in the town trace their heritage to the country now dealing with the aftermath of the major earthquake.
Some spent Wednesday working and waiting for updates from relatives and coworkers in Italy.
“It’s sad because Italy is always getting hit and everything there is really old,” says Anthony Peluso, owner of Tolli’s Apizza.
“A fella that works with us just left Italy this morning to go to Ireland. He’s on his honeymoon. But he, he was actually in Rome but he missed it,” says Iovanne.
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People are concerned about the horrible loss of life and the search for survivors. There’s also the destruction of historic buildings, which are more susceptible to the effects of a quake.
People here stand ready to help and say Italians are strong.
“Those Italian proverbs. That means the Italian will get thin. He’ll get skinny. But he won’t die. So they’re very resilient people, don’t give up,” says Peluso.
