Italian Chilean - Italian Community

Italian Community

The Italian community has been present since the times of Giovanni Battista Pastene, who participated in the discovery of Chile to the Spanish crown in the shipment of Pedro de Valdivia.

Since then, Italians have always occupied positions of great importance, also married with members of high society Chilean of Spanish origin who ruled Chile, for example, the wife of Salvador Allende, the Italian Chilean Hortensia Bussi.

An anecdote demonstrates the importance of Italian culture in the people of Chile: the influence of a Genovese shoemaker, named Giovanni De Marchi on Salvador Allende. Indeed, the President Allende told the journalist Régis Debray that De Marchi had a strong influence on its policy of training adolescents.:

Just finished classes went to speak to this anarchist who had a great deal of influence on my life as a boy. He was sixty, or perhaps sixty years, and would chat with me. I was taught to play chess, I spoke of things of political life, and I lent books.

Undoubtedly, the Italian family that has distinguished itself more in Chile is that of Alessandri. In the start of the 19th century, the parent, Giuseppe Pietro Alessandri Tarzo, came from Tuscany and worked as Consul of the Kingdom of Sardinia in Santiago. Among his descendants there are two presidents of Chile, Arturo Alessandri (1920–1925 and 1932–1938) and Jorge Alessandri (1958–1964).

Among the Italian-Chileans are the most illustrious architects (as Gioacchino Toeschi), painters (as Camilo Mori), industrial (as Anacleto Angelini), actresses (like Claudia Conserva), economists (as Vittorio Corbo) and statesmen (as the President Arturo Alessandri and his son).

The Italian language is promoted by the Chilean section of Dante Alighieri, while the Italian press has with:

• La Gazzetta Italiana nel Cile, bimonthly (Santiago), director Nadir Moroso.
• Presenza, fortnightly (Providencia, 1969), publisher and editorial director Giuseppe Tommasi (Scalabrini Fathers).

There are some Italian schools in Chile (the most important are located in Santiago, the "Vittorio Montiglio" and Valparaíso, the "Arturo Dell'Oro" ) and some organizations protect and serve the Italian community.