Both my grandfathers (both now passed) emigrated from Italy in the early 20th century and I was wondering what their communication was like with the families they left behind. Could they write letters, make phone calls, or was it basically the end of contact?
Thanks!
The most common form of communication would still have been letters, shipped by steamship at a reasonable speed (I would guess a month between Italy and the United States). For more urgent matters, one could use the telegraph, which made near-instant transmission possible but was very expensive.