Articles and Reviews

Galloghy, Sarah, “'Bridge of Love' collects love letters between a Pa. coal town and Tuscany”, Pittsburgh Post Gazette, Nov 30, 2022

Amore, B., “CHRISTINE PALAMIDESSI: FIGURES—VESSELS, VESTALS, ETUDES”, Art New England, Oct 3, 2022

Albright, Carol B., "Bridge of Love: a Story of Young Love, Immigration, Family, Hope", Italian Americana: Cultural and Historical Review, Vol. XXXIX No. 1 Winter 2022

Pettener, Emanuele, “I consider myself an American who is also an Italian: a conversation with Christine Palamidessi”, Strade Dorate, Nov 30, 2021

Amore, B., "Reflection: Boston Artists Catch Light", Art New England, Oct 2021

Stampino, Maria Galli, “Bridge of Love. A Story of Young Love, Immigration, Family, Hope”, Italian Americana: Cultural and Historical Review Vol. XXXIX No. 1 Winter 2021

CAA, “Member Spotlight: Christine Palamidessi”, Cambridge Art Association, Oct 19 2020

Editor, "Art & Life with Christine Palamidessi", Boston Voyager, August 27, 2018

Ruymann, Mallory A., "Silent. Silence. Silenced at Atlantic Works Gallery", Big Red & Shiny, Dec 4 2017


Maryam Yoon, “Inside Out | “Who Looks Outside, Dreams; Who looks Inside Awakens” Closing Soon”, Boston Hassle, Feb 23, 2017

Deskins, Sally, “Christine Palamidessi, Artist”, Les Femmes Folles (Women in Art), Jan 21, 2016

'Bridge of Love' collects love letters between a Pa. coal town and Tuscany


Cousins Christine Palamidessi and Nancy Livorio discovered a side to their grandparents that they never knew when they found old love letters among family documents.


Palamidessi, an artist who lives in Boston, has collected them in a book, “Bridge of Love,” that reveals and translates letters sent in the early 1920s between Angiolino Palamidessi in Freeport, Armstrong County, and Pia Biondi, who was living in their hometown of Chiesina Uzzanese in Tuscany, Italy.


The couple met at a dance in Tuscany. Shortly after, Angiolino immigrated to the U.S. with the intention to earn enough money to buy land in Italy. They communicated through letters for a year before Pia immigrated to the U.S. herself; they wed at a church in Manhattan in December 1920. The pair traveled to Pittsburgh where many other Tuscan immigrants were working in coal mines, and settled down in a mining town called Furnace Run. In the coming years, they had three children: Orestina, Aldo, and Fosca.


“Wishing you lots of beautiful things, and holding your hand tightly, I say to myself you are my beloved,” Angiolino writes in one. “Confident of your love I send you from this faraway land a thousand affectionate kisses.”


The young lovers also write about inflation, food shortages, second waves of the Spanish flu, new immigration rules, small-town gossip and anxiety about leaving their families. The books also includes family photos, immigration documents, passports and colorful collages by Palamidessi.

The Heinz History Center houses the original letters, donated by the family. The book is formatted with the Italian and English versions of the letters side by side.


Palamidessi recently gave a talk about the book and her grandparents at an Italian American Studies Association’s conference at the University of Pittsburgh. The book is available for $25 at palamidessi.com or the Heinz History Center gift shop in the Strip District.


Sarah Gal­lo­gly: sgal­lo­gly@post-ga­zette.com.

First Published November 15, 2022, 6:00am

Galloghy, Sarah, “'Bridge of Love' collects love letters between a Pa. coal town and Tuscany”, Pittsburgh Post Gazette, Nov 30, 2022

https://www.post-gazette.com/ae/books/2022/11/15/bridge-of-love-book-freeport-christine-palamidessi/stories/202211140003