The Italian Legacy in the Dominican Republic

THE ITALIAN LEGACY IN THE DOMINICAN REPUBLIC

Prior to that, on his second journey Columbus was accompanied by a young compatriot, Michele da Cu-

neo, a native of Savona, a town close to Genoa, who seeking adventures asked to join that expedition in his

capacity as mere curious traveler. Cuneo wrote an account of his arrival in the Antilles, and in it he recounts

that Columbus in honor of him christened a small island to the southeast of Española with the name of Saona

(the Ligurian variant for Savona). Michele da Cuneo was the first European “tourist” to visit the New World.

The shipowner for that second voyage was Juanoto Berardi, to whom the monarchs entrusted the respon-

sibility of preparing a ship for Columbus to return to the Antilles. This assignment resulted in the organization

of a fleet composed of sixteen ships. For the financing of this fleet, Berardi lent 65,000 maravedíes, which were

paid to him by the Crown during the following summer.

Another Italian friend of Columbus who acted as his confidant and repository for information gathered

during his first two voyages was the Milanese Pedro Martir de Anglería (Pietro Martire d’Anghieria), the au-

thor of the famous

Décadas del Nuevo Mundo

, one of the earliest chronicles about the presence of Europeans in

Española.

As Columbus’s partner and financier, Berardi acted as his agent until the latter’s death in 1495. Following

that, his business remained under the responsibility of Vespucci. Ten years later, Columbus died, and his son

Diego was appointed governor and viceroy of the lands discovered by his father, which would be governed

from Santo Domingo. Diego moved to this newly founded city in 1509 with his wife, María de Toledo, and a

small entourage of European noblemen and women sent by the Crown to “ennoble the land.”

Columbus left Diego with a vast inheritance. With those resources and the labor of numerous Indigenous

slaves, between 1511 and 1512 this new governor built an imposing viceregal palace with obviously Renais-

sance Florentine architectural features. We still do not know the name of the designer of this beautiful build-

ing incorrectly referred to today as the Columbus Alcazar. However, it has already been clearly determined

that its architecture is Italian, as has been established by researcher Julia Vicioso, who has been studying this

The large meeting

room of Casa Vicini

is the second floor’s

main room: the

company’s business

has been handled

here for decades.

Santo Domingo.

Casa Vicini / Inicia

Opening page:

Oil portrait of

Giovanni Battista Vicini

Canepa inside the

large meeting room

of Casa Vicini.

Casa Vicini