Italian Uruguayan - Italian Community

Italian Community

The first Italian immigrants who arrived in the land were almost all of the origin of the Genoese, Piedmontese, Neapolitan, Sicilian and Venetian.

In the first half of 19th century there was the participation of Giuseppe Garibaldi to the wars for independence of Uruguay, and many Italian patriots in Uruguay were attracted to the ideas of the leader.

The political movement which joined many residents of the Rio de la Plata with Italian was called Current Garibaldina. In recognition of Garibaldi there were many tributes to his memory as a "Avenida" (Course) of Montevideo with its name, a monument to his memory in the city of Salto, el 'Italian Hospital of Buenos Aires, among others.

Between the end of the 19th and early 20th century, came the third phase of immigration coming from Italy.

The Italians who arrived in this period, as well as in the fourth stage after the Second World War, gave a great contribution to Uruguayan architecture and gastronomy. In this period there was the foundation of the Italian Hospital of Montevideo, which last decade of the 19th century, and which bears the name of an Italian monarch, King Umberto I of Italy.

Italians who emigrated to Uruguay in the 19th century worked mainly in construction, trade and agriculture. Some were able to open the road as politicians and businessmen in the 20th century. Francesco Piria, born in Genoa, became one of the leading manufacturers of the South American state, creating even a seaside town that still bears his name, Piriápolis. Various Italo-Uruguayans became Presidents of Uruguay (Addiego, Demicheli, Gabriel Terra, and Baldomir Ferrari Sanguinetti) and writers of international renown (such as Delmira Agustini and Mario Benedetti).