About 1792, da Ponte married Ann Celestine Grahl. They had four children. When Joseph II died, da Ponte lost his job. He went to London. He got into debt, and went to the United States. He ran a grocery store in Pennsylvania for a short time. He moved to New York City and opened a bookstore. He became the first professor of Italian literature at Columbia College. He produced "Don Giovanni" in New York in 1826. In 1828, da Ponte became a naturalized US citizen.