Italian Immigration to Alberta At the end of the 19th century,
there were many heavily populated areas in Italy — areas in
which people had difficulty making a living as farmers or
industrial workers. These people wanted to emigrate to start a
new and better life. The Italian government was aware of these
problems and did its best to facilitate emigration. Italians
began coming to Alberta in the 1880s. Most found employment in
the coal mining areas of Coleman and Blairmore. Some Italian
immigrants also found work with the Canadian Pacific Railway. At
this time, Italian immigrants to Alberta were mostly men who
were hoping to make money and to return to Italy. Instead,
however, many of them established themselves in Alberta and had
their wives join them from Italy. Two agricultural settlements
were established in Alberta: Naples, in 1905, and Venice, near
Lac La Biche, in 1914. Neither of these settlements flourished,
partly because the Italians were more experienced in small,
mixed farming than in the large-s