The Italian Legacy in the Dominican Republic

THE ITALIAN LEGACY IN THE DOMINICAN REPUBLIC

María del Carmen Bonetti Garoz (1814–1883) married a fellow townsman Juan Bautista (Gio Batta)

Pellerano Costa (1806–1880) on October 19, 1852, at the Cathedral de Santo Domingo. Meanwhile, Clara

Bonetti Ernest married the prominent attorney, writer and public figure Juan Nepomuceno Publio Scipión

Emiliano Tejera Penson on May 7, 1879, in Santo Domingo,

to mention only a few important connections

between this family with other Dominican and Italian ones.

At the end of 1834, Juan Bautista (Gio Batta) Pellerano Costa arrived in the Dominican Republic from

Santa Margherita Ligure, Genoa, where he was born on August 23, 1806. He was the son of Benedetto Pellera-

no Bertollo and Maddalena Costa. Gio Batta’s first wife María Teresa Costa, with whom he had two children,

Vicenzo Benedetto (Benito) and Maddalena, died. On October 19, 1852, Gio Batta was married for the second

time at the Cathedral of Santo Domingo to María del Carmen Bonetti Garoz

(mentioned above). On October

5, 1859, Vicenzo Benedetto (Benito) Pellerano

Costa, born in Genoa, married María de Belén

Alfau Sánchez,

the half-sister of the Febreri-

sta party members Felipe and Antonio Alfau

Bustamante. Together they had a son Arturo

Joaquín Pellerano Alfau, the founder of the

Listín Diario

newspaper (August 1, 1899).

Rosa Pellerano Costa, one of Gio Batta

Pellerano’s sisters, was married in Genoa to

Juan Bautista (Gio Batta) Maggiolo Mag-

giolo. Gio Batta Maggiolo and Gio Batta

Pellerano were partners at the Maggiolo &

Pellerano company. This firm was located

at Calle del Comercio in Santo Domingo

in 1850, and both owned the María Luisa

schooner active in the Azua region during

the Dominican War of Independence against

Haiti. Gio Batta Pellerano died at age 74; his

wife Carmen Bonetti predeased him. The priest Eliseo Sandoli

performed his funeral rites.

The Pelleranos produced successful entrepreneurs as well as famous intellectuals, e.g. the writer and poet

Arturo Bautista Pellerano de Castro (March 13, 1864–May 5, 1916), the “Dominican Byron.” Another Pellera-

no family settled in Santiago de los Caballeros. They are the descendents of Gierolamo Pellerano and Colom-

bina Cuneo, also natives of Santa Margherita Ligure in Genoa, Italy.

Brothers José Bartolo and Juan Bautista (Gio Batta) Maggiolo Maggiolo also came from Genoa, Lig-

uria. In many documents this last name appears as Mayolo and even Mayoyo. They were the sons of Giro-

lamo (Gerónimo) Maggiolo and Maddalena Maggiolo. Juan Bautista Maggiolo married fellow townswoman

Rosa Pellerano Costa, and he was the business partner of her brother, Gio Batta Pellerano. As the captain of a

schooner, Gio Batta was involved in the Dominican War of Independence. He left the country permanently

in 1856 for unknown destinations. His children Bartolomeo and Maddalena Maggiolo Pellerano, both born in

Italy, remained in Santo Domingo. From them the Maggiolo Gimeli, Maggiolo Ravelo, Maggiolo Pimentel,

Maggiolo de Castro, and Maggiolo Núñez families descend.

José Bartolo Maggiolo Maggiolo married María del Carmen Vidal Henríquez at the Cathedral of Santo

Domingo on July 17, 1858.

In 1858, he worked as a coachman; in 1886 he resided at Calle Consistorial in the

Santa Bárbara neighborhood of Santo Domingo. He had many children with María del Carmen Vidal, Amelia

Pereira, and Agustina Landestoy. Baní native Eudocia Maggiolo Landestoy (1869–1949) was a child of José Bar-

tolo Maggiolo Maggiolo and Agustina Landestoy. Eudocia Maggiolo lived with Juan Francisco (Papi) Sánchez

Peña (1852–1932), son of Patricio Francisco del Rosario Sánchez.

The “Empress,”

Ms. Evangelina

Bonetti, and a group

of friends attending

the sumptuous picnic

given in her honor

the previous Sunday

at Mr. Juan Bautista

Vicini Perdomo’s villa.

LETRAS Magazine #22

of 1917.