Italian Colombian

Italian Colombians

Italo-colombiani (Italian) Ítalo-colombianos (Spanish)
Flags of Italy and Colombia in Bogotá
Total population
c. 20,000 (by birth) c. 2,000,000 (by ancestry, corresponding to about 4% of the total population)
Regions with significant populations
Bogotá,Caribbean Region, Norte de Santander, Santander, Valle del Cauca, Antioquia, Cundinamarca, Boyacá, Colombian coffee growing axis, Huila Department, Cauca Department
Languages
Colombian Spanish · Italian and Italian dialects
Religion
Roman Catholicism · Protestantism (Lutheranism · Evangelicalism)  · Judaism
Related ethnic groups
Italians, Italian Americans, Italian Argentines, Italian Bolivians, Italian Brazilians, Italian Canadians, Italian Chileans, Italian Costa Ricans, Italian Cubans, Italian Dominicans, Italian Ecuadorians, Italian Guatemalans, Italian Haitians, Italian Hondurans, Italian Mexicans, Italian Panamanians, Italian Paraguayans, Italian Peruvians, Italian Puerto Ricans, Italian Salvadorans, Italian Uruguayans, Italian Venezuelans

Italian Colombians (Italian: italo-colombiani; Spanish: ítalo-colombianos) are Colombian-born citizens who are fully or partially of Italian descent, whose ancestors were Italians who emigrated to Colombia during the Italian diaspora, or Italian-born people in Colombia. Italians have been immigrating to Colombia since the early 16th century.

History

Colonial period

The presence of Italians in Colombia began from the times of Christopher Columbus and Amerigo Vespucci. The very name of Colombia comes from the discoverer of America, idealized by the Venezuelan Francisco de Miranda.

Martino Galeano (member of the noble Galeano Family of Genoa) was one of the most important conquerors of the territory of present-day Colombia (New Kingdom of Granada). As an infantry captain, he directed the military campaign of Pedro Fernández de Lugo, who landed in Santa Marta in 1535. He later founded the town of Vélez, in Santander, being its alderman and co-founder of Bogotá.

In the 18th century, on the ship Santa Rosa, the naval artilleryman Giovanni Andrea Botero arrived from the port of Cádiz to the city of Cartagena de Indias, specifically in January 1716, working in the service of the Spanish crown. The artilleryman Botero was born in the Republic of Genoa and due to illness he had to ask permission, not being Spaniard, to stay in the territory of the Viceroyalty of New Granada. He traveled to the interior of the country and settled in the municipality of Rionegro, Valley of San Nicolás, Antioquia, where he devoted himself to agriculture and gold mining, founding this family in Colombia there.

Independent Colombia

Juan Dionisio Gamba was president of Colombia in 1812

Very few Italians arrived in Colombia before the war of independence led by Simón Bolívar, although several hundred monks came from Italy primarily as priests and missionaries were present in the country.

They have left their mark in many lines of the colombian colonial society.

Although few, these early Italians were present in almost all higher levels of Colombian society, like Juan Dionisio Gamba, the son of a merchant from Genoa who was president of Colombia in 1812.

Italians arriving in Colombia.

....The Italian influence in Colombia was important in science, culture, arts and laws. Furthermore, they created symbols like the country map, the National Hymn and the Capitol.(La influencia italiana fue determinante en la ciencia, la cultura, las artes y el derecho de Colombia. Además, les dieron vida a símbolos como el mapa, el Himno Nacional y el Capitolio.)

— Armando Silva

In the mid-nineteenth century, many Italians arrived from South Italy (especially from the province of Salerno, and the areas of Basilicata and Calabria), arrived on the north coast of Colombia: Barranquilla was the first center affected by this mass migration.

One of the first complete maps of Colombia, adopted today with some modifications, was prepared earlier by another Italian, Agustino Codazzi, who arrived in Bogota in 1849. The Colonel Agustin Codazzi also proposed the establishment of an agricultural colony of Italians, on model of what was done with the Colonia Tovar in Venezuela, but some factors prevented it.

Italians arriving in Colombia.

In 1885 diplomatic relations for some years between Italy and Colombia were interrupted. When a wealthy businessman in the Italian-Colombian Cauca named Ernesto Cerruti- was placed against the oligarchy and the church favoring a liberal party and local mason, Bogota authorities confiscated their property and imprisoned. This has caused a blockade of the port by the Colombian Navy and Italian emigration in Italy was partially closed until 1899.

In November 1887 to commemorate the independence of Cartagena, has been interpreted in Bogota Variety Theatre, a fervent song with lyrics (by Rafael Núñez) which was subsequently adopted by the Law 1920 as Hymn of the Republic of Colombia: his charm and melody came from someone who had arrived as first tenor in an opera company, the Italian musician Oreste Sindici (May 31, 1828 – January 12, 1904), and who lived the last years of his life in Bogotá well acclaimed by the Colombians.

Oreste Sindici was an Italian-born Colombian musician and composer, who composed the music for the Colombian national anthem in 1887. Oreste Sindici died in Bogotá on January 12, 1904, due to severe arteriosclerosis. In 1937 the Colombian government honored his memory.

Teatro Colón of Bogotá, created by the Italian architect Pietro Cantini.

Some important buildings were created by Italians in the 19th century, like the famous Colón Theater of the capital. It is one of the most representative theatres of Colombia, with a neoclassic architecture: was built by the Italian architect Pietro Cantini and founded in 1892; has more than 2,400 square metres (26,000 sq ft) for 900 people. This famous Italian architect also contributed to the construction of the Capitolio Nacional of the capital.

The sculptor Cesare Sighinolfi travelled to Bogotà, Colombia in 1880, invited by his mentor Pietro Cantini to help decorate the Teatro Cristobal Colon. He made monuments to Christopher Columbus and Isabelle the Catholic (1906). In Bogota, Cesare Sighinolfi succeeded Alberto Urdaneta, as director of the "School of Fine Arts of Bogotá": teaching alongside Luigi Ramelli and Pietro Cantini. In 1896, in Bogota he completed a portrait of Rafael Reyes.

In 1908 -according to the relation of the diplomat Agnoli to the Italian Commissary for Emigration- in Colombia there were nearly one thousand Italians: 400 in Barranquilla, 120 in Bogota, less than 100 in Cartagena and Bucaramanga, while only a few dozens lived in Cucuta and other minor cities. Most of the Italians were from Veneto and Tuscany; their main activity was in commerce and restaurants/hotels but 30 Italians owned huge lands and successfully cultivated with farms.

World War II

After the Second World War, Italian emigration to Colombia was directed primarily toward Bogota, Cali and Medellin. Italian immigrants in Colombia are mainly concentrated in the capital region (and secondarily in Cali & Medellin). They have Italian schools in Bogota (Institutes "Leonardo da Vinci" and "Alessandro Volta"), Medellín ("Leonardo da Vinci") & Barranquilla ("Galileo Galilei").

Furthermore, there are some institutions promoted by the Italian government, like the "Sociedad Dante Alighieri", the "Instituto de Cultura italiana" and the "Casa de Italia" in the capital.

Italian immigration to Colombia

There were 20,315 Italian citizens residing in Colombia in 2019. It is estimate around 2,000,000 of Colombians have full or partial Italian ancestry, corresponding to about 4% of the total population.

Institute of Italian Culture in the Teusaquillo neighborhood of Bogotá.

Language

Italian immigrants have integrated easily into Colombian society. Today the vast majority of their descendants only speak Spanish, the national language of Colombia. Approximately 4.3% of the natives still speak (or understand a little) the Italian in 2008. In the last century here has been an influence of the Italian language in some Colombian words.

Cuisine

Italians brought new recipes and types of food to Colombia but also helped in the development of Colombian's cuisine. Spaghetti and pizza are some of the favorite foods in nowadays Colombia thanks to them.

Like in many other countries, the Italian cuisine is widely popular in most cities and many municipalities of Colombia.

Notable Italian-born people and descendants

Portrait of the Italian Oreste Sindici (1870). He composed the Colombian anthem.

Criminals

Pablo Escobar, the notorious Colombian drug lord, was captured in a 1976 photograph by the Colombian police.

• Pablo Escobar, Colombian druglord
• Salvatore Mancuso, paramilitary warlord

Architecture

• Giovanni Buscaglione, architect
• Giancarlo Mazzanti, architect
• Patricio Samper Gnecco, architect, urbanist and politician

Arts and Entertainment

• Rodolfo Aicardi, singer
• Fernando Botero, draftsman, painter and sculptor
• María Cecilia Botero, actress and TV presenter
• María Dalmazzo, actress
• Shakira Mebarak Ripoll, singer-songwriter and businesswoman
• Andrea Nocetti, model, actress and Miss Colombia 2000
• Taliana Vargas, model, actress and Miss Colombia 2007 (1st runner up Miss Universe 2008)

Colombian singer Shakira, in addition to having Lebanese roots, on her mother's side has Italian ancestry.

Colombian figurative artist and sculptor Fernando Botero. All Colombians who bear this surname descend from an Italian naval gunner, born in the Republic of Genoa.

Science & The Arts

• Agustín Codazzi, geographer
• Oreste Sindici, musician and composer

Politics

• Armando Benedetti, politician
• Gustavo Petro, politician (President of Colombia 2022-2026)
• Marta Lucía Ramírez, politician and former Vice-President of Colombia 2018-2022
• Fabio Valencia Cossio, politician
• Armando Samper Gnecco, politician

Religion

• Tulio Botero, ecclesiastic of the Catholic Church
• Javier de Nicoló, priest and educator
• Mario Revollo Bravo, ecclesiastic of the Catholic Church

Sports

• Nicolás Benedetti, professional footballer
• Santiago Botero, professional cyclist
• Francisco Cassiani, professional footballer
• Geovanis Cassiani, professional footballer
• Luis Fernando Centi, professional footballer
• Norberto Peluffo, professional footballer, coach and sports commentator
• Eddie Salcedo, professional footballer

Others

• Valeria Ayos Bossa, Miss Universe Colombia 2021
• Daniella Álvarez, Miss Colombia 2011
• Salvatore Mancuso, former member of the AUC

See also

• Colombia–Italy relations
• List of Italian explorers
• List of Italian inventors
• Italians
• White Colombians
• White Latin Americans