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ominican life has been profoundly affected by the influx of various groups of foreigners who have
settled in the country since the time of the Spanish conquest. Among these groups, the Italians,
although not the most numerous, have exhibited certain characteristics of adaptation to and fu-
sion with the Dominican land and people that merit further examination. Within this mosaic of
influences, the Italian presence is particularly significant, because, as Marcio Veloz Maggiolo has observed, it
has proven fundamental in the construction of Dominican life, history, and national consolidation.
The proclamation of the Kingdom of Italy in 1861, the annexation of Venice in 1866, and the conquest of
Rome in 1870 were events that introduced overwhelming changes in the history of Italy. These pivotal mo-
ments in the independence movement promoted by figures such as Victor Emmanuel II and Giuseppe Gar-
ibaldi completed the project of unifying the nation.
2
From then on, the difficult task of building a self-image
in the social, economic, and cultural fields introduced new variables that changed the relationships between
regions of the old states formed in the Middle Ages; at the same time, the homogenization of a territory as
diverse politically as economically generated a distancing between the Center-North, which was more devel-
oped from an economic standpoint, and the South, which was structurally weaker.
3
The indiscriminate application of the administrative, legal, and fiscal structures of Piedmont, a region
to which all of central Italy, Romagna, and the Midi had been annexed to constitute the Kingdom of Italy,
4
as well as the introduction throughout the country of the free regime change and the adoption of customs
tariffs, helped to accentuate the differences between the northern and southern regions. In the North, indus-
trial, commercial, and agricultural activities showed a fairly balanced development, based on an efficient and
modern structure and a significant availability of capital, whereas in the South, agriculture tended to be more
regressive and dominated by large estates.
5
These economic realities of the new State, combined with the
drop in prices in foreign markets and the poor development conditions of much of the countryside, which also
suffered from the scourge of malaria, led to notable difficulties.
6
The crisis that affected this sector given the new political/territorial framework fueled the migratory flow
of peasants and the poorest classes from the regions with the greatest demographic concentration from the
1870s onward.
7
The exodus, which depopulated entire rural areas, continued, except during the hiatus result-
ing from World War I, until the first years after that confrontation.
8
CHAPTER 3
The Italian Presence in the Cibao
Region and in Santiago de los Caballeros
By Edwin Espinal Hernández
Lawyer, notary, and author of historical and genealogical works
•
“Questa terra
(...)
dai tempi della scoperta di Cristoforo Colombo e dopo,
di Alessandro Geraldini, il primo Vescovo residente di Santo Domingo,
si sente profondamente vincolata con il vostro paese.”
1
Archbishop Nicolás de Jesús López Rodríguez, in the opening homily at
the monument to Father Fantino in Santo Cerro, La Vega, January 11, 1998.