Italian Oakland - Hardcoverby Rick Malaspina (Author) Oakland, the other city by the bay, was a magnet for Italian immigrants in the early decades of the 20th century. Some relocated from San Francisco after the devastating 1906 earthquake and fire; many more came to Oakland predominantly from Italy's northern regions of Piedmont, Liguria, and Lombardy in search of opportunity and prosperity. These pioneers worked hard, typically at backbreaking labor, to build new lives. They