L'UNIONE ITALIANA (ITALIAN CLUB)

The nucleus of Tampa’s Italian colony arrived from New Orleans and Sicily in 1887. Founded in 1894, the primary purpose of L’Unione Italiana was to promote social and fraternal exchange among its members, and to provide medical benefits and burial expenses for its members. Health care benefits provided by Ybor City’s social clubs represent early examples of America’s health maintenance organizations and one of the oldest examples of cooperative medicine in the country. L’Unione Italiana is considered the forerunner of more than 1,400 Italian mutual aid societies founded in the United States. In 1914 fire destroyed the first club house built on the northwest corner of Seventh Avenue and Eighteenth Street. By 1918 the Society built the present three-story Neoclassical building across 7th Avenue from the original site at a cost of $80,000. The structure embraces the Italo-Greco tradition embodied in the ancient Greek temples found in the province of Agrigento, Sicily. Its theatre, ballroom, library and cantina were always beehives of activity. It stands today as a source of pride and commitment to early Italian immigrants.