Another interesting moment from the Sopranos is when Furio says that he doesn't like Columbus because he was from Genoa (north). It always seemed funny to me how Italian-Americans (big majority of them have southern Italian ancestry) considered the likes of Columbus, Dante, Da Vinci, Machiavelli and other 'northerners' as part of their heritage, while in fact they have nothing to do with them. Their real heritage are Sicilin vespers, kingdom of the two Sicilies, brigantaggio, "mafia" etc. Their ancestors were culturally different from Italians in the north and had a different history.