This book examines how Italian Americans have been represented in cinema, from the depiction of Italian migration in New Orleans in the 1890s ( ) to the transition from first- to second-generation immigrants ( ), and from the establishment of the stereotype of the Italian American gangster ( ) to its re-definition ( ), along with a peculiar depiction of Italian American masculinity ( ). For many years, Italian migration studies in the United States have commented on the way cinema contributed to the creation of an identifiable Italian American identity. More recently, scholars have recognized the existence of a more nuanced plurality of Italian American identities that reflects social and historical elements, class backgrounds, and the relationship with other ethnic minorities. The second part of the book challenges the most common stereotypes of Italian Americanness: food ( ) and Mafia, deconstructing the criminal tropes that have contributed to shaping the perception of Italian-American mafiosi in , , and the first two chapters of the trilogy. At the crossroads of the fields of Italian Culture, Italian American Culture, Film Studies, and Migration Studies, is written not only for undergraduate and graduate students but also for scholars who teach courses on Italian American Cinema and Visual Culture.