Biographical Sketch

Dina D'Alto was born in Canosa di Puglia, Italy in 1900 to Andrea D'Alto and Eusapia Forina D'Alto. She emigrated to Boston in 1921, where she taught English and Italian and assisted Italian immigrants in assimilating and, in some cases, becoming naturalized U.S. citizens. While in Boston, D'Alto met her husband, Francesco "Francis" P. Malgeri. Francesco Malgeri was born in Salerno, Italy on 20 November 1860. His father, who practiced medicine in Salerno, soon relocated to a small village in Calabria with his wife and elder son, leaving Francesco to live with his uncle. After a difficult childhood, he attended school, was drafted into the Army, and held various clerical jobs before moving to the U.S. in 1901. Dina D'Alto and Francesco Malgeri likely met and married while working as social workers in Boston before 1928.

In 1928, Dina and Francesco Malgeri moved to Chicago, where they lived until returning to Boston in 1934. Around this time, they had two children, Francis Anthony Malgeri (b. 1928) and Dina G. Malgeri (b. 1929).

Dina D'Alto Malgeri's work in Chicago and Boston centered around providing immigrant communities with the tools for education, cultural enrichment, employment, community building, and governmental/medical assistance. Malgeri worked with charitable groups such as the Salvation Army, Moody Mission, Off the Street Club, March of Dimes, North End Cultural Center, Michelangelo School Center, Federal Emergency Relief Administration, International Institute of Boston, and Boston Tuberculosis Association. She also founded a women's group in Boston, Circolo Religione e Patria, which helped Italian women to assimilate and pursue citizenship. Francesco Malgeri worked for the Works Progress Administration (WPA) as a social worker in both Chicago and Boston.