Italian Venezuelans
Italian Venezuelans are Venezuelan citizens of Italian descent. The word may refer to someone born in Venezuela of Italian descent or to someone who has emigrated to Venezuela from Italy. Among European Venezuelans, Italians are one of the largest groups of immigrants to settle in the country.
History
Before the discovery of huge deposits of oil in Venezuela, during the first half of the 20th century, the emigration of Italians to Venezuela was limited. A number of Italians moved to Venezuela from Italy during the colonial times and the Simón Bolívar era. In the second half of the XIX century there was a small number of Italians and their descendants, who were able to reach important levels inside the Venezuelan society, like Luis Razetti.In the 1940s and 1950s the Venezuelan President Marcos Pérez Jiménez promoted European immigration to his depopulated country, and more than 300,000 Italians emigrated to Venezuela.
The Italians in the 1961 Venezuelan census were the biggest European community in Venezuela.
In 1966 -according to the Italian Embassy in Caracas- of the 170000 Italians present in the country, 90% lived in the main cities: about 96000 in Caracas, 14000 in Maracaibo, 8000 in Maracay, 6000 in Valencia and 5000 in La Guayra. Most of these Italians were born in Sicily, Campania and Puglia; only 15% were born in northern Italy. They initially worked in construction, in the service sector, in commercial agencies and in different businesses, in manifacturing activities and a few also in the oil industry.
In 1976 the "Dirección de Estadísticas" of Venezuela registered 210,350 Italians residents and 25,858 Italians "naturalised". In 2001, 126,553 Italians were living in Venezuela.
Marisa Vannini calculated that in the 1980s Italian-Venezuelans made up almost 400,000 of Venezuela's population, including second-generation descendants of immigrants. The Italian language in Venezuela is influencing Venezuelan Spanish with some modisms and loanwords and is experiencing a notable revival between the Italian-Venezuelans of second and third generation.
Santander Laya-Garrido estimated that the Venezuelans with at least one grandparent from Italy can be nearly one million at the beginning of the 21st century.
Currently, Italian citizens resident in Venezuela are reduced to less than 50,000 due mainly to demographic mortality and to their return to Italy. The Ambassador of Italy in Venezuela, estimated that 5-6% of the current Venezuelan population is of Italian origin.
Professions
Initially, agriculture was one of the main activities of the Italian community in Venezuela. In the 1950s, entire Italian families were moved from Italy to special agricultural areas, like the "Colonia Turén" of the Portuguesa region.However, most Italians concentrated in commercial, building and services activities during the second half of the 20th century. In those sectors, Italians reached top positions in the Venezuelan economy.
The community's main Italian newspapers are Il Corriere di Caracas and La Voce d'Italia , both published in the Capital, and the main Italian school is the Agustin Codazzi of Caracas. Since 2002, the Italian government has become the promoter for a provision which makes it mandatory to teach the Italian language as a second language in a consistent number of public and private schools within Venezuela.
Most of the Italian community in Caracas but even in the rest of Venezuela followed Deportivo Italia football club, as its own representative team.
Indeed, the Italian-Venezuelans have obtained significant results in the contemporary society of Venezuela. The Italian Embassy calculates that 1/4 of the Venezuelan industries, not related to the oil sector, are directly or indirectly owned and/or managed by Italian-Venezuelans.
In the Italian community, actually one of the most important in Venezuela, there are Presidents of Venezuela, entrepreneurs, managers, sportsmen, artists, beauty pageants, and many others personalities.
One winner of the title Miss Venezuela was born in Italy: María Antonieta Cámpoli in 1972.
Main Italo-Venezuelan Institutions and Associations
- Asociación Civil "Agustin Codazzi" in Caracas
- Casa de Italia in Caracas, Maracay, Valencia, Ciudad Bolívar
- Centro Italo-Venezolano in Caracas, Barcelona, Maracaibo, Valencia.
- Club Social Italiano in Puerto La Cruz, Acarigua
- Deportivo Italia Football Club
- Instituto Italiano de Cultura in Caracas
- Camera di Commercio, Industria ed Agricoltura Venezuelana-Italiana in Caracas
- Regional Associations of Italians in Venezuela
- Genealogía Italiana en Venezuela http://www.italven.org
Education
There are also multiple Italo-Venezuelan schools in the country:
Caracas:
- Colegio Agustín Codazzi
- Colegio San Francisco d'Assisi
- Colegio Nuestra Señora de Pompei
- Colegio Amerigo Vespucci
- Collegio San Marco Evangelista
- Collegio Patria
- Colegio Bolivar y Garibaldi
- Collegio Maria Montessori in Ciudad Bolivar
- Collegio Angelo de Marta in Puerto La Cruz
Western Venezuela:
- Collegio R. C. Agazzi in Barquisimeto
- Collegio San Pedro in Barquisimeto
- Collegio Juan XXIII in Maracay
- Collegio Antonio Rosmini in Maracaibo
Notable Italian-Venezuelans
- Filippo Salvatore Gilii - Italian Jesuit priest and linguist who lived in the Province of Venezuela before the War of Independence.
- Juan German Roscio - Chief architect of the Venezuelan Constitution of 1811.
- Agostino Codazzi - Geographer, cartographer, military officer and governor.
- Primo Casale - Composer, conductor and violinist.
- :es:Carlo Castelli|Carlo Castelli - Italian military that fought with Simon Bolivar in the Venezuelan War of Independence.
- Renny Ottolina - Artist, TV anchor, politician.
- Jaime Lusinchi - President of Venezuela.
- Raul Leoni - President of Venezuela
- Pompeo D'Ambrosio - Financial manager and vice-president of bank.
- Luis Razetti - Surgeon, considered the driving-force behind the Renaissance of Venezuelan Medicine.
- Leon Croizat - Biologist.
- Daniel Canónico- Baseball right handed pitcher.
- Johnny Cecotto - Sportman.
- Daniela Di Giacomo - Miss International 2006.
- Graziano Gasparini - Architect and art historian.
- Alejandra Ghersi - Musician commonly known as Arca.
- Iván Palazzese - Sportman.
- Franco De Vita - Artist, singer, composer and pianist.
- Marco Scutaro - International baseball player.
- Francisco Cervelli - Major League Baseball player.
- Gianfranco Di Julio - Soccer player.
- María Antonieta Cámpoli - Miss Venezuela 1972.
- Sandro Finoglio - Mister World 1998
- Yordano - singer, composer and guitarist.
- Mario Masciulli - Military engineer.
- Rosario Marciano - Pianist and writer.
- Massimo Margiotta - Former footballer.
- Lele Pons - Internet personality and actress.
- Giovanni Savarese - Former soccer player.
- - Biologist.
- Vicencio Scarano Spisso - Politician.
- Ainett Stephens - television personality and model
- Yordano - composer and singer
Geographical distribution and origin
The Italian Consulate in Caracas stated that in 1977 - of 210,350 Italians residents in Venezuela - 39,855 were from Sicily, 35,802 from Campania, 20,808 from Abruzzi, 18,520 from Apulia, 8,953 from Veneto, 7,650 from Emilia-Romagna and 6,184 from Friuli – Venezia Giulia.
The Italians are concentrated mainly in the north-central region of Venezuela around Caracas. The Consulate stated that in the same 1977 there were 98,106 Italians in the Distrito Federal of Caracas, 39,508 in Miranda State, 14,203 in Maracaibo, 12.801 in Aragua State and 8,104 in Carabobo State, as well as 66 in the Amazonas equatorial region.
In the 2000s, it was determined that nearly 90% of the Italo-Venezuelans were concentrated in the northern coastal section of Venezuela facing the Caribbean sea. Approximately 2/3 of them are residents of the metropolitan areas of the three main Venezuelan cities: Caracas, Maracaibo and Valencia.
There is also a considerable number of Italian residents that live in the city of San Cristóbal and in the Andes region.
Demographics
Population
States with the highest proportions of Italian-born population tend to be those of the North-central coastal area, the Andean Region and the Insular Region.At the 2011 census, this was the breakdown of Italian-born population by state, showing that the capital area was the one with the biggest concentration of native Italians.
State | Italian-born Population | Percentage |
Amazonas | 19 | 0.013 |
Anzoátegui | 1,116 | 0.0798 |
Apure | 63 | 0.0137 |
Aragua | 2,492 | 0.1537 |
Barinas | 351 | 0.0434 |
Bolívar | 885 | 0.0631 |
Capital District | 5,792 | 0.3003 |
Carabobo | 3,011 | 0.1349 |
Cojedes | 93 | 0.0216 |
Delta Amacuro | 18 | 0.01 |
Falcón | 355 | 0.0373 |
Federal Dependencies | 20 | 0.9438 |
Guárico | 582 | 0.0785 |
Lara | 1,449 | 0.082 |
Mérida | 558 | 0.678 |
Miranda | 8,263 | 0.3122 |
Monagas | 494 | 0.0566 |
Nueva Esparta | 915 | 0.1886 |
Portuguesa | 851 | 0.0986 |
Sucre | 296 | 0.038 |
Tachira | 338 | 0.0291 |
Trujillo | 349 | 0.051 |
Vargas | 557 | 0.1591 |
Yaracuy | 339 | 0.0566 |
Zulia | 1,645 | 0.0446 |
Total Venezuela | 30,901 | 0.1137 |