Luciano

Luciano Sabatini came to the United States when he was four years old. His parents had briefly lived in Argentina before making the move to Queens, and with them, they brought the many cultural aspects of their lives in Italy. As Sabatini grew up, he was teased for his strange name and for the way he struggled to learn his new language. He longed to shed his Italian roots and assimilate into American culture.

Sabatini changed his name in order to better fit in and became ashamed of his heritage and his family. This caused him to build up severe feelings of inadequacy and inferiority, which plagued him all through his childhood. As a young man, his ego crumbled, and he had to rebuild his self-confidence through the slow process of psychotherapy. Over the course of his life, he learned to become a more self-assured individual, and finally, he was able to embrace his identity by relearning Italian, reconnecting with family members, and reviving his old customs.

In Luciano: An Immigrant's Journey of Rediscovery, readers can follow Sabatini through his entire life as he finally comes to understand and embrace the importance of his heritage.