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THE ITALIAN LEGACY IN THE DOMINICAN REPUBLIC
56
We have no records of the parents of Simón
Corso (1795–1873) of Genoa. He was a naval of-
ficer. He fought in theWar of Independence under
the leadership of Juan Bautista Cambiaso, and he
commanded the General Santana schooner.
40
He
married Mercedes Luis Sosa of Santo Domingo.
One son, Manuel María Corso Sosa was a second
lieutenant in the military in 1862. On February 10,
1861, he had granted some land to help found the
town of San Pedro de Macorís. The Corso family
established itself in the east of the country. One
of Simon Corso’s brothers, Juan, a Genoese sailor
married American citizen Jean Wilson.
The merchant Cristoforo Sturla and
Jeronima Chiossone, both natives of Arenzano,
Genoa, arrived in the Dominican Republic circa
1878 with their children Adelaida, Antonio, Juan
Bautista, Ercilia, and Ludovica. Their respective
families later flourished in Samaná, Santiago de los Caballeros, San Francisco de Macorís, and Santo Domingo.
Adelaida Sturla Chiossone married a fellow townsman with the last name Pizzoni; Antonio Sturla Chiossone
was an agent in Samaná of the Cambiaso & Cia. Company.
41
He had children with X. Lavandier but married
Adriana Rosa Catarina Ventura Cambiaso (mentioned above) in approximately 1885.
42
Juan Bautista Sturla Chiossone (1856–1891), a merchant, owned J. B. Sturla & Co. In Santo Domingo
on May 12, 1882, he married to María Luisa Adelina Cambiaso Latour,
43
daughter of the aforementioned Luis
Francisco Cambiaso Chiossone and Bertina Latour Crane.
44
Notable among their children are Salvador Ar-
químedes Sturla Cambiaso (1891–1975), a great composer and musician. Ercilia Sturla Chiossone (1860–1950)
married Genoese Juan Bautista Podestá Podestá, whom we will discuss later. Ludovica Sturla Chiossone mar-
ried her townsman Francisco Calcagno. Their family, as we shall see, set down roots in Azua.
The Genoese Juan Bautista Podestá Podestá (1854–1905), son of Carlos and Adelina,
married Ercilia Sturla Chiossone (1870–1950) in Santa Bárbara de Samaná. Juan Bautista died
on October 27, 1905.
45
Ercilia died on September 27, 1950.
46
Only one son, Carlos Podestá
Sturla, survived. From him descend all with that surname in the Dominican Republic.
Francisco Calcagno, a native of Arenzano, Genoa and a merchant in Azua, married his
townswoman Ludovica Sturla Chiossone in 1885. Their family established roots in Azua de
Compostela.
47
Salvatore Pasquale Pittaluga Marsano (1844 – 1899) from Sampierdarena, Genoa,
and the son of Giovanni Pittaluga and Rosa Marsano, was a merchant that owned the El
Gallo store on Calle El Comercio (presently Calle Isabel La Católica) in Santo Domingo. He
married Elisa Cambiaso Robert
48
on November 9, 1868; he also had children with Inocencia
Pujol. His descendants are in Pittaluga Nivar, Lovatón Pittaluga, Mejía Pittaluga.
Giovanni Battista Serrati (?–1876), Genoese, married Severa Capriles in 1865. Their
son Francisco (Queco) Serrati Capriles was married to Enriqueta Mella de la Peña on Sep-
tember 22, 1910.
49
Another son, Luis Amadeo Serrati Capriles, operated a mine.
50
Bartolo Bancalari Bruno,
51
the Genoese son of Giovanni Bancalari and María Bruno
and a merchant, settled in Samaná. He married Ana Gisbert González from Santo Domingo
on July 28, 1883, in Santa Bárbara de Samaná.
52
The children of Juan Bancalari Gisbert and
Photograph taken
during a conference in
Puerto Plata of Ulysses
Heureaux’s General
Council. Among those
present was Luis
Francisco Cambiaso
Chiossone (1830 -
1907), brother of
Admiral Juan Bautista
Cambiaso.
© Archivo General
de la Nación