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THE ITALIAN LEGACY IN THE DOMINICAN REPUBLIC
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Christopher Columbus: European Discoverer of the Island
Looking back in history, the roots of this bond can be unearthed with the arrival of the Genoese admiral,
Cristoforo Colombo, on Dominican land in 1492. In another powerful example, following was the first resi-
dent bishop on the island, Alessandro Geraldini, who came from Amelia in Umbria. Since then, the Catholic
religion and culture, which originated in Rome, were fundamental in forming the people who fused their own
national identity with the newly created state called the Dominican Republic in 1844.
It is worth remembering that in 1802 a French emperor, born in Corsica to a family that originated in Tus
cany, and whose name in Italian was Napoleone di Buonaparte, sent an expedition to the island of Hispaniola
comprising numerous ships and thousands of soldiers with the aim of expelling Governor Toussaint Louver-
ture from the eastern part of the Spanish colony. The part of the island that we inhabit today, and which we
have called the Dominican Republic since 1844, had been ceded to France by Spain in 1795 through the Treaty
of Basel. That treaty ended the wars in the First Campaign of Italy that had been led by Napoleon Bonaparte.
These important details shed light on the historical source of our relations with Italy—as a nation, as a
people, and as a state—which can be traced back to the 1802 sea expedition to Hispaniola, ordered by Emperor
Bonaparte and headed by General Emmanuel Leclerc, the husband of Napoleon’s sister, Paolina Bonaparte;
Paolina was later widowed when Leclerc died on the island from yellow fever or malaria. Of the soldiers who
accompanied General Leclerc, many had been recruited from the region of Liguria and the area adjacent to
Genoa (Columbus’s native city), thereby establishing roots for Dominican families of Italian origins, as is the
case with Bonetti, Billini, Campillo, Cambiaso, and many others who later played decisive roles in Dominican
national history.
Moving forward to the twentieth century, specifically the 1930s, when humanity was faced with a series
of pivotal crises, it was the radio that played a key role in bringing Italy and the Dominican Republic closer
together. In the middle of that decade, twentieth-century communications were limited to radio, which the
Italian Guglielmo Marconi had invented. This efficient and high-speed device served to connect Italians and
Dominicans for scheduled programming at specific times each day, as can be seen in the documents on file at
the Historical Archive of the Italian Ministry of Foreign Affairs.
When World War II broke out on September 1, 1939, a realignment of nations occurred as a result of the
global conflict, a shifting of power that drove governments apart. However, the war could not break centu-
ries-long ties between peoples and nations. Italy was subjugated by a fascist regime that dominated it from the
year 1922, four years after World War I (1914 – 1918) ended. Allied with the Japanese Empire and Adolf Hit-
ler’s Nazi Germany, the government of Benito Mussolini severed its official ties with the government of the
Dominican Republic. It was only after the war ended in 1945 that diplomatic relations were again normalized.
This was conceivably the only tragic episode to occur in our mutually beneficial relationship as nations.
We must never forget the suffering endured by the Italians residing in the Dominican Republic; they were
required to report every week to the nearest police precinct for documentation checks. The dictatorial regime
of Rafael Leónidas Trujillo Molina, who rose to power in December 1941, declared war on the Axis (Italy, Ger-
many, and Japan). The Trujillo dictatorship thus became part of the allied front comprising the United States,
Great Britain, and the Soviet Union against the totalitarian regimes of Germany, Italy, and Japan. A few years
ago, I discovered correspondence in the Italian archives that revealed the difficult situations experienced by
Italian citizens who found themselves on the peripheries of these global conflicts.
Peoples and Roots
History demonstrates that above the temporary interests of parastatal organizations, there are deep roots that
join nations together, as is demonstrated by the example of the Dominican and Italian peoples. Unifying epi-
sodes and the wise decisions of visionary leaders ultimately rise above such obstacles.