Coming to Boston

“Everything was new. From the cars driving on the street to communication, to the weather. Nothing felt like home.” As a 17-year-old immigrant, adjusting to the US was no easy task, despite having family living in the area. There was some sense of home as he lived with uncles, aunts, cousins, and Fabio, but America posed a new challenge for a young Adriano. For the first few weeks of getting to the States, Adriano stayed home, as the job offer was extended to Fabio, and Adriano was invited to tag along. However, sitting in an empty house with no one to accompany him, Adriano quickly found a job working for his uncle. With some lessons from his uncle, Adriano began working on car repairs in a small shop in Watertown for minimum wage. Even though he was working under his uncle, Adriano still dealt with the same issues the family battled against decades ago: racism. His deep tan skin, large Catholic cross, and thick Italian accent made him a primary target for his American coworkers, getting called “guinea”, “guido”, “immigrant”, “alien”, and the list goes on. Yet positively, this conflict caused him to improve his work ethic and self-motivation. So much so that Adriano and his brother Fabio were able to make their way up the ranks in the autobody shop, earning the respect of their peers. 

By the end of that summer, Fabio and Adriano called their parents back home letting them know that they were not coming home. Between returning to nothing in Italy and how he quickly found success in America, the decision to stay in the US was easy. While anyone else coming overseas would need to get a Visa or citizenship, Adriano happened to be a step ahead. Since he was born in Boston before the family moved to Montepaone Lido, Adriano had an American passport and citizenship. Because of this, Adriano avoided a potential 5-year process to legally obtain citizenship, which would’ve crushed any chance of staying in the US. For the next few years, Adriano would bounce around between jobs and industries. He would work at car dealerships, sandwich shops, and autobody garages. Amid his search for a career, in 1996, Adriano would meet Kelly, an American woman living in Waltham. They dated for years and eventually got married in 2003. With Kelly holding a high-up position at General Electric, Adriano had the opportunity to find the industry he would spend his working years. Knowing he had great social skills and a newfound strong work ethic, Adriano decided to try out real estate. This allowed Adriano to strengthen his English as it was becoming his primary language and put his overachieving mentality to good work. Taking a few years under the wings of others at Coldwell Banker, Adriano obtained his real estate license and opened his own office out of Keller Williams, where he still works today. Looking back upon his story, Adriano feels nothing but pride as he was able to travel to an entirely new setting at the age of 17 and, with hard work and determination, was able to create a life greater than anything he had dreamt of as a boy in Montepaone Lido.