Italo-Venezuelans

Infobox Ethnic group
group = Italo-venezuelans


caption = Notable Italo-venezuelans Jaime Lusinchi·Renny Ottolina·Pompeo D'Ambrosio
Johnny Cecotto·Franco De Vita flagicon|Italy flagicon|Venezuela
poptime = 310,000 of whom 213,000 with Italian citizenship (census 1971)
popplace = Caracas, Valencia, Maracaibo, Puerto La Cruz, Maracay, Merida and surrounding areas.
langs = Italian, Spanish
rels = Roman Catholic
related =

Italo-Venezuelans are the Venezuelan citizens of Italian descent. The word may refer to someone born in Venezuela of Italian descent or to someone who has emigrated to Venezuela from Italy. Among European Venezuelans, Italians are the largest groups of immigrants to settle in the country.

History

Before the discovery of huge deposits of oil in Venezuela, during the first half of the XX century, the emigration of Italians to Venezuela was very limited. Only a few hundreds (like Agostino Codazzi) moved to Venezuela from Italy during the colonial times and the Simon Bolivar era.

But in the 1940s and 1950s the Venezuelan President Marcos Pérez Jiménez promoted the European immigration to his depopulated country, and so more than 300,000 Italians moved in (even if many returned later to Italy).

The Italians in the 1961 Venezuelan census were the biggest European community in Venezuela (ahead of the Spanish). In 1976 the "Dirección de Estadísticas" of Venezuela registered 210,350 Italians residents and 25,858 Italians "naturalizaded" (who got Venezuelan citizenship). [Ministerio de Fomento (Dirección General de Estadísticas y Censos nacionales). "Décimo Censo nacional de 1971". Caracas]

Marisa Vannini calculated that in the eighties the Italo-Venezuelans were nearly 400,000, including (and in addition to the Italians emigrated from Italy) more that 120,000 descendants of second generation. Actually, the Italian language in Venezuela is influencing with some modisms and loanwords the Venezuelan Spanish and is experiencing a notable revival between the Italo-Venezuelans of second and third generation.

Santander Laya-Garrido estimated that the Venezuelans with at least one grandparent from Italy can be nearly one million at the beginning of the XXI century (like the former president of Venezuela, Raul Leoni, whose grandfather was an Italian mason refugee of the XIX century).

Actually the Italians resident in Venezuela are reduced to less than 50,000 due mainly to demographic mortality and to their return to Italy (because of a Venezuelan political and economic crisis in the 2000s). [http://www.annoticoreport.com/2007/07/italian-venezuelans-worried-by-chavez.html]

Professions of the Italo-venezuelans

Initially the agriculture was one of the main activities of the Italian community in Venezuela. In the fifties entire Italian families were moved from Italy to special agricultural areas, like in the "Colonia Turén" of the Portuguesa region. [http://www.chiesacattolica.it/pls/cci_new/bd_edit_doc_txt.edit_documento?p_id=8045 Colonia Turen (in Italian)]

But most of the Italians concentrated in commercial, building and services activities during the second half of the XX century. In those sectors the Italians reached the top levels of the Venezuelan economy.

The main Italian newspapers of the community are "Il Corriere di Caracas" and "La Voce d'Italia" [http://www.voce.com.ve/] , both published in the Capital, while the main Italian school is the "Agustin Codazzi" of Caracas (with courses from elementary to high school). Since 2002, the Italian Government has become the promoter for a provision which makes it mandatory to teach the Italian language as a second language in a consistent number of public and private schools within Venezuela. [http://www.ambcaracas.esteri.it/Ambasciata_Caracas/Menu/ Section:Cultural cooperation]

Indeed, the Italo-Venezuelans have obtained significant results in the contemporary society of Venezuela. The Italian Embassy calculates that 1/4 of the Venezuelan industries, not related to the oil sector, are directly or indirectly owned and/or managed by Italo-Venezuelans. [http://www.esteri.it/MAE/EN/Politica_Estera/Aree_Geografiche/Americhe/] In the Italian community, actually one of the most important in Venezuela, there are Presidents of Venezuela (like Jaime Lusinchi and Raul Leoni), entrepreneurs (like ing. Delfino, who with his "Constructora Delpre" made in Caracas the tallest skyscrapers of South America: Parque Central Complex), managers (like Pompeo D'Ambrosio), sportmen (like Johnny Cecotto), artists (like Franco De Vita), beauty pageants (like Daniela Di Giacomo and Nina Sicilia), and many others personalities.

Notable Italo-venezuelans

* Jaime Lusinchi. President of Venezuela (1984-1989)
* Raul Leoni. President of Venezuela (1963-1968)
* Agostino Codazzi. Geographer, Cartographer, Military Officer, Governor
* Renny Ottolina. Artist, TV Anchor, Politician
* Pompeo D'Ambrosio. Financial Manager, Vice-President of Bank
* Johnny Cecotto. Sportman (moto & race cars)
* Daniela Di Giacomo. Miss International 2006
* Ivan Palazzese. Sportman (moto)
* Franco De Vita. Artist, Singer, Composer, Pianist
* Marco Scutaro. International Baseball Player
* Italo Pizzolante. Poet, Composer, Musician
* Viviana Gibelli. TV Host and Actress

Geographical distribution and origin

The Italians moved to Venezuela mainly from the poor regions of South Italy (like Sicily), but even from the north (Emilia-Romagna and Veneto).

The Italian Consulate in Caracas stated [Consolato Generale d'Italia a Caracas."Rapporto del Consolato per il Ministero Affari Esteri di Roma. Anno 1978"] that in 1977 - of 210,350 Italians residents in Venezuela - 39,855 were from Sicily, 35,802 from Campania, 20,808 from Abruzzi, 18,520 from Puglia, but even 8,953 from Veneto, 7,650 from Emilia-Romagna and 6,184 from Friuli-Venezia Giulia.

The Italians are concentrated mainly in the north-central region of Venezuela around Caracas. The Consulate stated that in the same 1977 there were 98,106 Italians in the Distrito Federal of Caracas, 39,508 in Miranda State, 14,203 in Maracaibo, 12.801 in Aragua State and 8,104 in Carabobo State, but even 66 in the Amazonas equatorial region.

Actually, in the 2000s, nearly 90% of the Italo-Venezuelans are concentrated in the northern coastal section of Venezuela facing the Caribbean sea. Aproximately 2/3 of them are residents of the metropolitan areas of the three main Venezuelan cities: Caracas, Maracaibo and Valencia.

Main Italo-venezuelan Institutions and Associations

* "Asociación Civil "Agustin Codazzi" in Caracas
* "Casa de Italia" in Caracas, Maracay, Valencia, Ciudad Bolivar
* "Centro Italo-Venezolano" in Caracas, Barcelona, Maracaibo, Valencia.
* "Club Social Italiano" in Puerto La Cruz, Acarigua
* "Deportivo Italia" Football Club
* "Instituto Italiano de Cultura" in Caracas [http://www.iiccaracas.esteri.it/IIC_Caracas]
* "Camera di Commercio, Industria ed Agricoltura Venezuelana-Italiana" in Caracas
* "Regional Associations" of Italians in Venezuela [http://www.concapeligna.it/L'ITALIAnelMONDO/allESTERO/associazioniitaliane/associazioni/venezuela.htm]
* "Genealogía Italiana en Venezuela" http://www.italven.org

References

ee also

* Italians
* Italian diaspora
* Italian language in Venezuela

External links

* [http://www.migranti.torino.it/Documenti%20%20PDF/italianial%20ster05.pdf Statistical Data on the Italians in the world]
* [http://www.child-centre.it/papers/child26_2001.pdf Italian emigration]
* [http://www.lapatriagrande.net/001_ceseiv/censo_2001/tab_2_italianos_por_estado.htm Venezuelan 2001 Census:Italians (in Spanish)]

Bibliography

* Cassani Pironti, Fabio. "Gli italiani in Venezuela dall’Indipendenza al Secondo Dopoguerra". Roma, 2004
* Favero L. e Sacchetti G. "Un secolo di emigrazione italiana:1876 - 1976". Centro Studi Emigrazioni. Roma, 1978
* Mille, Nicola. "Veinte Años de "MUSIUES". Editorial Sucre. Caracas, 1965
* Santander Laya-Garrido, Alfonso. "Los Italianos forjadores de la nacionalidad y del desarrollo economico en Venezuela". Editorial Vadell. Valencia, 1978.
* Vannini, Marisa. "Italia y los Italianos en la Historia y en la Cultura de Venezuela". Oficina Central de Información. Caracas, 1966