AN ITALIAN BOOKSTORE MADE IN AMERICA
Boston's Bookstore That Thrives on Italian Culture
BY ANDREW COTTO
Orichuia said. “But when I came to Boston, I didn’t find anything like that, and I thought that was weird because Boston also has a large metropolitan area, not as large as Chicago, but there’s all these surrounding towns, and the Italian American community is so present. So, I said to myself, ‘I know what I’m going to do.’”
When legendary Italian American children’s writer and illustrator Tomie dePaola came to visit Boston’s I AM Books in 2015, the line to meet the beloved author extended out the door and down the block of the small storefront at 189 North Street, circling the charming lanes of the historic North End, the city’s Owner Nicola Orichuia outside the new storefront of I AM Bostoniano was launched Books at 124 Salem Street in Boston's North End. Italian-American enclave. The in 2012 after a fierce fundestimated turnout was 300 raising effort throughout the visitors. The next year and the year after that, the out- greater Boston area. The free monthly magazine was pouring, respectively, for Mr. dePaola was nearly twice the 52 pages with information, features and news across the original size. The massive numbers, three years running, spectrum of the Italian and Italian American community. were not only a boon for the owner of the boutique book The idea was to recognize the status of the Italian and store but a validation of his belief in identity-driven retail Italian American presence in Boston as well as the pride. with a cultural emphasis. In this case, the identity is that “We were trying to highlight why it was great to be of a bookstore dedicated exclusively to Italian and ItalItalian and/or Italian American because a lot of times if ian American literature, history, art, research and more you - being from this culture - are looking only at the (hence the name: I for Italian: AM for American). A few mass media, you get all these stereotypes thrown at you years after Mr. dePaola’s third and final visit, however, the and it’s hard to really understand the reasons to be proud, Coronavirus pandemic shuttered the original I AM Books contemporarily and historically, and dig deeper than the location and tested the resolve of its owner. typical projection,” Mr. Orichuia said. Nicola Orichuia was born and mostly raised in Rome. A One of the ways the magazine worked to promote professional Italian journalist by trade, he Italian culture was through the sharing accompanied his surgeon wife to Chicago of information on events. A problem with in 2008 for a medical residency. While this in Boston was that the cultural centers, furthering his own studies of journalism with a few exceptions, weren’t particularly at a local college, Mr. Orichuia began active in hosting such gatherings. This working for Fra Noi, the Windy City’s sparked yet another idea in Mr. Orichuia, publication dedicated to Italian and Italian one borne from a serendipitous coffee American culture. He continued his relawith a friend who was closing a small retail tionship with the Chicago magazine after space at 189 North Street. relocating with his wife to Boston where Again, Mr. Orichuia knew what he had he expected to find a similar publication. to do, though the concept of a cultural “It was nice to have this magazine in center alone struck him as a task dominatChicago that the entire Italian American ed by fundraising in order to stay open. He Nicola Orichuia, owner community could aggregate around,” Mr. thought, instead, to raise his own funds of I AM Books. SUMMER 2022
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ITALIAN AMERICA