It was a labor of amore.
The new Italian American Museum — which swings its doors open to the public Monday at its sleek digs on 151 Mulberry St. in Little Italy — was an idea more than 20 years in the making, according to its founder Joseph V. Scelsa.
“Every group should have their culture recognized and seen by the public at large,” Scelsa told The Post. “Italians have never had a museum.”
Scelsa — a longtime dean of the Calandra Institute, CUNY Queens College’s branch of Italian education, among other bona fides — said the Italian history exhibit he curated in 1999 for the New York Historical Society drew 100,000 people, making it one of the most successful exhibitions in the society’s history.
“I realized that you can reach more people in a museum than in the classroom,” he said.
Hudson Valley resident Zoe Dunn brought her daughter Morgan, 20, to the museum on Columbus Day ahead of her semester abroad in Florence in the spring.
“I thought she needed a little bit of history, a little bit of background to set the stage and get her in the mood for going,” Dunn, 53, said.
Scelsa has long had a burning passion for spreading the history of his heritage — and was even invited to the White House this week for an event celebrating Italian Americans. Ironically, he had to decline to open the Big Apple museum on Columbus Day.
But it was a lengthy road to opening, only recently made possible thanks to Gov. Kathy Hochul, who pitched in a million bucks of state funds to complete the project.
“Museums have a hard time borrowing money,” said Scelsa, who began raising funds for his idea in 2001. “It’s not something that banks like to do.”
In 2008, he settled on a property in Little Italy, the bustling Manhattan neighborhood where millions of Italian immigrants first poured in during the turn of the century.
“We bought three buildings from a family who had a bank on the corner of Grand and Mulberry that closed in 1931,” he said, referring to Banca Stabile, which opened in 1885. “They were in terrible shape, so we had to build something new.”
Partnering with a developer since 2018, they constructed a new building with residential condominiums atop the 7,000-square-foot museum on the ground floor.
And no, they won’t have to worry about greedy landlords. “We own everything,” said the museum’s founder.
Along the way, Scelsa has turned into an Indiana Jones-like figure for Italian history, stockpiling memorabilia in his mother’s Bronx house for eventual display.
“You should see what it looks like,” he said. “People have been donating stuff to me, and some of it is precious and some of it is just precious to them.”
One item that made the cut and will be featured in the museum’s initial exhibitions focuses on the Italian female garment workers: a statue of a real-life seamstress that sits by the museum’s entrance. Its now 95-year-old model recently reunited with it.
Other exhibits highlight the Sicilian puppet theaters that once flourished in Little Italy, with the museum boasting 32 original puppets made by immigrants in the early 1900s.
“They’re the only intact collection in the entire United States,” Marie Palladino, the museum’s head of education, told The Post and museum visitors on Monday. “This collection was coveted by Jim Henson and the Smithsonian and we are very proud we are the recipients.”
“All of these puppets are incredible,” Dunn said while taking in the exhibit. “I can’t even imagine having to operate them — 100 pounds apiece!”
Meanwhile, an exhibit dubbed “The Quincentenary” focuses on the grand journeys of the bridge namesake and famed explorer Giovanni da Verrazzano.
“It’s all about highlighting the contributions of Italians to American culture,” Scelsa said.
Also helping Scelsa in his museum mission are famous faces including the actor Chazz Palminteri and director Martin Scorsese.
“I’ve been speaking with Scorsese’s company about using footage from his earlier works,” he said, noting they’ll soon be incorporated into the museum.
Scelsa, who said he hasn’t even made a dime from the museum, said it was his goal to ensure Italian culture wasn’t “left out of the museum world.”
“I don’t consider this to be my legacy,” he said. “In reality, anybody could have done this — as long as they had the tenacity of a dream.”
The Italian American Museum is open from 12 to 6 p.m. on Columbus Day. Starting Oct. 15, hours are 12 to 5 p.m. on Thursdays, Fridays and Saturdays. Sundays and Wednesdays are by appointment only. Admission is $15 for adults and $10 for seniors and children under 12.
