Ethan Beck

In 1999, Dr. Joseph V. Scelsa felt the history of Italian Americans needed a home after a temporary New-York Historical Society exhibit captured the community’s achievements and contributions. After a stint in a CUNY facility in midtown, Scelsa packed up his artifacts, signed a lease at the location of the former Banca Stabile, a bank patronized by Italian immigrants and opened the single-room Italian American Museum in 2008.   A new museum of Italian American history will open at the same location in Little Italy next Monday, October 14, coinciding with the Columbus Day holiday. Construction began in 2018 on a new building at 155 Mulberry Street, which now includes exhibits focused on Sicilian puppet theater’s history, Italian Americans who worked in the clothing industry and the journeys of Giovanni da Verrazzano in parts of the new six-story building. RECOMMENDED: The 37 best museums in NYC “It has not always been easy but we have much to be proud of, for our contributions to American society are enormous,” said Scelsa, the museum’s president, in a letter on its website. “Now we will have a secular cathedral for all to see, experience and appreciate where we came from and what we have achieved.” To kick things off, the primary exhibit is of puppets from the former Manteo Theater in Little Italy. Titled “Puppet Homecoming: The Historic Sicilian Manteo Marionettes Return to Mulberry Street,” the display includes evocative, wooden marionettes that date back to the 1920s and 1