Meet Nick Sentieri.

Photos and Writing by Kai Amos

Meet Nick Sentieri. An American that calls Italy home.

Nick Sentieri was raised eating pizza straight from the brick oven, sauces prepared with the freshest basil and tomatoes, and noodles freshly rolled out of the pasta machine. His family holds tightly to their Italian family heritage, especially by the making of authentic Italian cuisines.

Prior to 2016, Nick had only seen photos of Italy and learned about his family heritage word of mouth from his grandparents, first generation Americans. But in January 2016, Nick traveled to Italy to meet extended family, see his mother land, and study abroad. The trip changed his life forever, and now he wats to become a citizen of Italy.

To become a citizen, Nick has to prove his connection to Italy. And each step Nick takes to brings him closer to his roots and allows him to learn more about his family, specically his great grandfather, Eriminio Sentieri.

Meet Nick. An American that longs to call Italy home.

Nick lives in Moscow, Idaho and is a student at the University of Idaho.

He is a third generation Italian American.

He is a third generation American. His family holds tightly to their heritage through cooking. A cookbook from his mother's side consists of family-owned Italian recipes.

Nick prepares his late-night dinner as he kneads pasta dough from his family's cookbook.

He rolls his dough through the pasta machine that his Nonna passed down to him.

After rolling the dough flat, Nick presses two pieces together and cuts the edges to make a traditional ravioli noodle.

In the Spring of 2016, Nick went on a study abroad trip to Turin, Italy. His 6 month trip allowed him to meet his family in Italy as well as learn about his family history and culture and history first hand.

This is a photo that Nick took during his study abroad trip. He was in Ivrea, Italy celebrating Carnival - the celebration before Lent.

Nick took this photo at the Derby della Madonnina which is a soccer game between two of the biggest clubs in Italy who are both from Milan. This match takes place in Stadio San Siro, and there were 80,000 people there with standing room only.

To become a citizen, Nick has to prove his family lineage to Italy. Throughout this process, he has learned more about his grand father, Peter Sentieri, and his great grandfather, Eriminio Sentieri. Here Nick looks over his great grandfathers WWI draft card, while his grandfathers WWII papers lay nearby.

Nick describes how Erminio never naturalized as American when he immigrated to the United States. This makes it easier for Nick to become an Italian citizen since his great grandfather had not denounced his citizenship.

Nick points to Cerreto Alpi, a small village in central Italy where his great grandfather is from. Nick did not have a chance to visit this village

Nick says, "As of now I am an American citizen, and am grateful for the opportunities I have had in this country. But I am excited to one day be an Italian and fully embrace the culture I have grown up in."

Comment from the editor:

Nick Sentieri is my roommate and he is currently going through the process of gaining citizenship in Italy. I decided to use Nick as the subject for the “Labor of Love” assignment because over the past year, Nick has attempted gaining citizenship and had expressed to me how important it was for him to get it. Over the past year he has come across, and overcame, many road blocks that are attempting to prevent him from becoming an Italian citizen.

All of the photos were taken with an iPhone 8 Plus. I decided to take the photos with an iPhone because I wanted to have more flexibility in maneuvering to capture shots that I felt captured the labor of love. The project was frustrated and not as great as I hoped it would have turned out, but I really like the different types of shots I captured and the website.