 Italian GuatemalanAlejandro Sinibaldi,President of Guatemala in 1885 | |
| Total population | |
| c. 4,000 (by birth)[1] | |
| Regions with significant populations | |
| Guatemala city,Quetzaltenango andZacapa | |
| Languages | |
| Guatemalan Spanish · Italian andItalian dialects | |
| Religion | |
| Roman Catholicism andProtestantism | |
| Related ethnic groups | |
| Italians,Italian Americans,Italian Argentines,Italian Bolivians,Italian Brazilians,Italian Canadians,Italian Chileans,Italian Colombians,Italian Costa Ricans,Italian Cubans,Italian Dominicans,Italian Ecuadorians,Italian Haitians,Italian Hondurans,Italian Mexicans,Italian Panamanians,Italian Paraguayans,Italian Peruvians,Italian Puerto Ricans,Italian Salvadorans,Italian Uruguayans,Italian Venezuelans |
Italian Guatemalans (Italian:italo-guatemaltechi;Spanish:ítalo-guatemaltecos) areGuatemalan-born citizens who are fully or partially ofItalian descent, whose ancestors wereItalians who emigrated to Guatemala during theItalian diaspora, or Italian-born people in Guatemala. Italians contributed in the construction of the country as monuments, parks and besides contributing at the National Conservatory.
TheItalian immigration inGuatemala began in a consistent way only in the early Republican era. One of the first Italians to come to Guatemala was Geronimo Mancinelli, an Italian coffee farmer who lived in San Marcos (Guatemala) in 1847.[2] However, the first wave of Italian immigrants came in 1873, under the government ofJusto Rufino Barrios, these immigrants were mostly farmers attracted by the wealth of natural and spacioushighlands of Guatemala. Most of them settled inQuetzaltenango andGuatemala City.[3]
During colonial centuries only a few Italians came to what is now Guatemala, mostly religious missionaries with some merchants and a few soldiers under Spanish rule.
Vincenzo Filisola occupies Guatemala on behalf of Agustín de Iturbide and ordered to proclaim its independence in 1823; the general Francisco Morazán, of Italian roots, was the second President of the Guatemala Republic.
— Patricia Spinato[4]
The ItalianVincenzo Filisola (born inRavello, Italy, in 1789) occupiedGuatemala City in 1823 after the formation of the "Federal Republic of Central America" (that included Guatemala) and convened the "Central American congress" which forthwith declared its independence.
Filisola was followed by a small group of Italians, who emigrated from Italy to Guatemala in the first half of the 19th century.
One of the first Italians to come to Guatemala was Geronimo Mancinelli, an Italian coffee farmer who lived in San Marcos (Guatemala) in 1847.[5]
Indeed, the first "wave" of Italian immigrants came in 1873, under the government ofJusto Rufino Barrios, who made a trip to Europe. He was greatly interested in Italian families to bring to his country: these families had surnames as Bocaletti, Garzaro, Bonnato, Maselli, Comparini and were mostly farmers attracted by the wealth of natural and spacioushighlands of Guatemala. Most of them settled inQuetzaltenango andGuatemala City.[6]
However, there were also a few hundreds of Italians fromVeneto andTuscany, who were left without help by their immigration agents after they arrived in theSanto Tomás de Castilla port: some died ofyellow fever andmalaria, which wereendemic to the region, but most moved away by 1878.[7]
It is noteworthy to pinpoint that when Barrios was killed in April 1885 inEl Salvador,Alessandro Sinibaldi became President of Guatemala for some time even if he was born inRome in 1814: his father was a wealthy Italian immigrant.
As the first Italian colony failure for lack of incentives. In early 1880, came another wave of Italian immigrants, within the government ofJusto Rufino Barrios. This wave of immigrants was different from the previous one, since they arrived in this scientific, writers, painters, sculptors, musicians and wealthy families.[8]
By 1900, there were more than 1,000 Italians in Guatemala, sculptors Italians (under the government ofManuel Estrada Cabrera), built many historical buildings in Guatemala. This occurred in certain areas ofQuetzaltenango,Zacapa andGuatemala City was inhabited mostly by Italians, which was a growth of Italo-Guatemalan children, Among these years, prosperity was in the Italian colonies of Quetzaltenango, Guatemala City and Zacapa, for the years 1930, Guatemala reached its maximum number of Italian residents, the second country in Central America, behindCosta Rica. And according to historian Vittorio Capelli, also there were important immigrations inPanama andNicaragua and some immigrations inEl Salvador andHonduras.[9]
TheItalians were pioneers in bringing European technology in Guatemala (along with theGermans), the first driver throughout Guatemalan history was Dante Naninni, descendant of Italian drivers. He was also member of theItalian Air Force during TheWorld War II. In the late 1890s, the first cars arrived in Guatemala were of Italian origin, besides the decades between 1870s and1900s, the Italians built the railway (El Ferrocarril de los Altos).[8]
During this migration, the Italian influence came to the Guatemalan literature, mainly in the late nineteenth century, many indigenous literature of the colonial period was translated by Italian writers. Other writings of Italians in Guatemala reflected the natural and tropical beauty of the country. The Italian editors Aliprandi and Martini painted a vivid picture of the Guatemala's Italian community in 1932.[10]
By mid-1930,Italian immigrants were the second largest immigrant group inGuatemala after theGermans, however, unlike the Germans, the Italians never exceeded 10,000 immigrants in Guatemala, and the growingNazi influence in Guatemala by the Germans,[11] this rest importance to the Italian community by thegovernment, which the prosperity of this colony came to an end.
From this period came the pioneers of the era that gaveGuatemala a true socio-economic transformation: the decorators Lutti, Degrandi, Bernasconi, Carmennauti, Scoteti; the sculptor Andrew Gaileitti; the famous architect Porta, who left magnificent works inQuetzaltenango, such as the famous "Pasaje Enriquez"; the doctor Zagrini, a physician and surgeon; the lawyer Julio Drago; the engineers Vittorio Cottone, Enrico Invernizzio and Luigi Paiella, who plotted the Paseo de la Reforma Racetrack, Boulevard Aurora and Elena Avenue.
It is noteworthy to pinpoint that the father & mother ofRiccardo Bressani, an italo-guatemalan scientist, came to Guatemala from Italy in this period. Riccardo Bressani was the first scientist to receive the award of the worldwide prestigiousAlbert Einstein World Award of Science in 1984.[12]
By early 1900s,Italian immigrants were an important immigrant group inGuatemala after theGermans, however, unlike the Germans, the Italians never exceeded 5,000 immigrants in Guatemala in any year.
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The last wave of Italian immigration inGuatemala took place under PresidentManuel Estrada Cabrera, who wanted to follow the footsteps of his predecessors and led a third emigration of Italian families into Guatemala. In part it succeeded because, by then, the country was a dictatorship. Many came in this period, while some Italians who had arrived under the presidency of Reyna Barrios Barrios left; however, some new contributions came from Italian blood, who put their work and skills at the service of the Guatemalan nation. Among these may be mentioned: Valentine Giordani, Juan Mini and Humberto & Luis Giordani, who worked in the construction of railways and the building of modern houses.[8]
By early 1940s,Italian immigrants were the second largest immigrant group inGuatemala after theGermans. But with the growingNazi influence in Guatemala by the Germans,[13] thegovernment started to reduce & limit the importance to the Italian community (linked partially to Fascism) and the huge prosperity & influence of this colony came to an end duringWW2.
Some of the 51 Italians of Guatemala who were inscribed in the "Partito fascista" were jailed (but they were a small minority in the more than two thousand Italians living in Guatemala city).[14]
In the 1950s some emigration from Italy, mainly fromCalabria andSicily, was again arriving in Guatemala, but this migration was limited to a few hundreds.
In 2020 was elected President of GuatemalaAlejandro Giammattei, whose grandfather came from Italy in the 1930s. He has the double passport (Italian and Guatemalan) because of this ancestor.[15]
There were around 4,000 Italian citizens, which makes it the country's third largest European community.[1] Since 2007 the institution "Internations Guatemala" is in charge of incorporating more foreign residents into Guatemalan culture, including those who are Italian.[16]
A number of Italian architects arrived in Guatemala towards the end of the 19th century, giving rise to an Italian-influenced art and architectural movement, particularly in the capital, and several Italian architects oversaw construction projects in Quetzaltenango; these included the Templo de Logia Fénix No. 2, by Alberto Porta.[17]
A group of Italian architects, including Porta and Luigi Lutti, with sculptor Desiderio Scotti, founded the Academy of Municipal Architecture, and were responsible for building many of the most prominent buildings in Quetzaltenango, including the Banco del Occidente and Pasaje Enríquez.[18]
Ancestral background ofGuatemalan citizens | |
| Guatemalan native groups (Maya and others) | |
| Former and extinct | |
| Guatemalan mestizo | |
| Descendants of Europeans (white orCriollo) | |
| Descendants of Asians | |
| Afro-descendants | |
| Americas | |
| Africa |  | |
|---|---|---|
| Americas | ||
| Asia | ||
| Europe | ||
| Oceania | ||
| Exodus | ||
| Neighborhoods | ||
