For almost 150 years Reno, Nevada, has had an Italian American presence. In the late 1860s, Italian immigrants began migrating to the Truckee Meadows and its surroundings. After arriving in American ports on the West Coast as well as the East Coast, the immigrants who had the means moved to more amenable locations in the interior of the country. They sought out areas of the United States where the climates would be similar to those they had left behind in Europe.