Italian Uruguayans

Outside of Italy, Uruguay has one of the highest percentages of Italians in the world. An estimated 1,300,000 Uruguayans have Italian ancestry, about 35% of the total population of Uruguay.[2][3] Italian immigration to Uruguay refers to one of the largest migratory movements Uruguay has received. The population of Italian origin, together with that of Spanish origin, forms the backbone of Uruguayan society.[4][5][6] Like that of its neighboring country, Argentina, Uruguayan culture bears important similarities to Italian culture; in terms of language, customs and traditions.[7] Italian emigrants began to arrive in Uruguay in large numbers in the 1840s and this migratory flow continued until the 1960s.[8][7]

Sebastiano Caboto

In 1527 Venetian explorer Sebastiano Caboto founded San Lázaro, the first European settlement on the Río de la Plata.[9][10][11] The first Italians arrived in the Spanish colony in the 16th century. These were, mainly, Ligurians from the Republic of Genoa, who worked on transoceanic merchant ships.[12] The first inhabitant of Montevideo was the Genoese Giorgio Borghese (who Hispanicized his name to Jorge Burgues), who built a stone house on a ranch where he raised cattle before the city was founded.[13] Sailing in the service of the Spanish crown, the Tuscan sailor Alessandro Malaspina undertook a scientific voyage known as the Malaspina Expedition, which led him to explore the coasts of Montevideo in 1789. On board two corvettes traveled botanists, zoologists, draftsmen, doctors, dissectors, geographers, astronomers and hydrographers, whose objectives were to carry out a cartography of the Río de la Plata and observe astronomical phenomena.[14][15]

Already in the 19th century relations began between Uruguay and the Kingdom of Piedmont-Sardinia, which signed some commercial and navigation treaties.[16] After the revolutions of 1820 and of 1830 in Italy, some revolutionaries fled to America from Piedmont, the Papal States and the regions of Southern Italy.[17] The number of immigrants began to increase starting from 1830, after the obstacles imposed on immigration that were in place during the colonial era were eliminated:[18] this also coincided with the political situation in Argentina, which prevented immigration.[19]

In 1835, 2,000 citizens of the Kingdom of Piedmont-Sardinia resided in Montevideo and two years later, over 2,500 Italians registered.[20] These first immigrants were found on the outskirts of Montevideo and were, for the most part, Piedmontese peasants, who arrived in a Uruguay at that time without industrial development, with extensive farming but little agricultural exploitation. Around the year 1842 it was estimated that the colony consisted of 7,945 Italians, with a prevalence of Lombards, dedicated to agriculture or domestic services, and also counting on the presence of Genoese sailors who dealt with the trade of Italian goods.[19][21] Around the year 1843, Italians were 25% of the immigrants in Uruguay, behind the French and the Spanish.[22]

The Italian general Giuseppe Garibaldi triumphed in the battle of San Antonio which took place in the Salto Department in 1846 during the Uruguayan Civil War

Subsequently a significant number of colonists arrived from Sardinia and during the Uruguayan Civil War several Italians participated in the defense of the region led by Giuseppe Garibaldi.[18] To join the ranks of Garibaldi's Italian Legion, in January 1851, about a hundred Italian volunteer ex-military officers and a minority of Ticino and Hungarians embarked from Genoa.[23] In recognition, many tributes were paid to the memory of Giuseppe Garibaldi, including an avenue named after him and monuments in Montevideo and Salto.[24][25] The migratory trend began to change starting from the Uruguayan Civil War, when the Italians - together with the Spaniards - were the first in terms of number of immigrants.[22]

From 1875 to 1890, Italians were the largest part of a wave of immigration to Uruguay from Spain and Italy. That continued in the 20th century until the early 1960s but was followed by a sharp reduction, coinciding with economic and political upheavals in both Uruguay and Italy. Then, Italian immigration continued to decline because of greater attraction exerted by Argentina, Brazil and the United States. By the end of the 20th century, the trend finally began to run out.

As of 2003, there were only 33,000 first-generation Italians in the South American country , but many Uruguayans were well aware of their Italian ancestry. By 1976, Uruguayans of Italian descent numbered over 1,300,000, almost 45% of the total population, including Italian-Argentine residents in Uruguay. High concentrations are found in Montevideo and the city of Paysandú, where almost 65% of the population is of Italian origin.

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

In the first half of the 19th century, Giuseppe Garibaldi was a participant in Uruguay's wars for independence, 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 are many tributes to his memory such as a "Avenida" (Course) of Montevideo with its name, a monument to his memory in the city of Salto, and el 'Italian Hospital of Buenos Aires.

Between the late the 19th and the early 20th centuries was the third phase of immigration coming from Italy. Those Italians who arrived and in the fourth stage, after the Second World War, gave a great contribution to Uruguayan architecture and gastronomy. There was the foundation of the Italian Hospital of Montevideo in the last decade of the 19th century, which bears the name of 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. Francisco Piria, of Genoese ancestors, became one of the leading manufacturers in Uruguay and even created a seaside town that still bears his name, Piriápolis. Various Italo-Uruguayans became presidents of Uruguay (Addiego, Demicheli, Gabriel Terra, Baldomir, Sanguinetti) and writers of international renown (such as Delmira Agustini and Mario Benedetti).

Alfredo Baldomir Ferrari, 27th president of Uruguay.

During the 1930s, the Italian community became very important in Uruguayan society. That coincided with the rise to power of Italian-Uruguayan Gabriel Terra from 1931 to 1938 and his successor Baldomir Ferrari (1938–1943) and his relatives. President Gabriel Terra was able to obtain land and funding support from Mussolini and Hitler to build a dam on the Rio Negro, creating the largest artificial lake in South America. In addition, Terra promoted the beginning of the process of 'industrialization by means of the Italian companies. He openly appreciated Italian fascism and tried to imitate some characteristics and corporate policies.

In Montevideo, for example, was a political Fascio with 1,200 members, and 150 volunteers gave Italian-Uruguayans the Italian conquest of Ethiopia in 1936.

The Italian diplomat Mazzolini said that Mussolini considered Uruguay as the most "Italian" state of the Americas with which to make a possible future political and ethnic-racial alliance. The Italian language gained considerable importance in Montevideo in those years and became compulsory in secondary schools in Uruguay in 1942 under Ferrari.

Further, around 1938 a certain number of Italian Jews came to Uruguay, feeling rejected in their mother country by the anti-Semitic racial laws.[26]

An overall estimate of Italian immigrants to Uruguay from its independence until the 1960s is 350,000 but, given the balance of migration, must be halved. Over a third of the Uruguayan population has an Italian surname. The 2011 Uruguayan census revealed 5,541 people who declared Italy as their country of birth.[28]

The flow of Italians to Uruguay can be broken into several waves:

• From 1830 to 1850 in which at least 20,000 immigrants arrived, almost all from Piedmont and Liguria.
• The 1850s during which an equally-high number landed in Montevideo (about 25,000 from Lombardy and Sardinia).
• The 1860s and the 1870s, of about 90,000 Italians from across the country.
• The late 19th and the early 20th centuries, characterised by mass migration stimulated by propaganda and prepaid journeys but generally poorly trained and illiterate; 110,000 reached Montevideo.
• The 20th century, after the First World War (about 15,000).

Italians in Uruguay come from 40% Northern Italy, 17% Central Italy, and 34% Southern Italy. The main Italian regions of origin are Campania, with 5,231 residents (16% of the total); Lombardy (5,029); Piedmont (4,250); Lazio (3,353); and Liguria (3,018).

In 2007, Italian citizens (including those with dual citizenship with Uruguayan) who are resident in Uruguay were 71,115. The entire Italian community is held in high esteem by the Uruguayan population, also by a marked process italianisation in society especially in the local cuisine (like Caruso sauce) and the local dialect (such as Lunfardo, which probably derives from the dialect word "Lumbarda" of immigrants from Lombardy).

In Uruguay, the Italian influence was more isolated since only 27% of the Italo-Uruguay reside outside the metropolitan area of the capital, but there were different Italian communities and founded several cultural entities (as in Rivera, the border with Brazil).

Alfredo Baldomir Ferrari was the president of Uruguay from 1938 to 1943. In 1942, he made Italian a compulsory subject in secondary schools. Paysandú, near the border with Argentina, has the most Italian influence and is currently estimated that over 60% of its population of about 80,000 inhabitants are of Italian origin. Furthermore, Italian is widely spoken, partly since Italian is taught in all schools. Among the most famous Italian-Uruguayan ties are the EU benevolence, the Scuola Italiana, and the Italian Federation of Paysandú.

The Group of Paysandú Lombardi keeps cultural ties with the Italian emigration, especially with Lombardy.

Billboard in front of a grocery store announcing "Gnocchi del 29" in the Soriano Department, Uruguay

The noquis del 29 ("gnocchi of 29") defines the widespread custom in some South American countries of eating a plate of gnocchi, a type of Italian pasta, on the 29th of each month. The custom is widespread especially in the states of the Southern Cone such as Brazil, Argentina, Paraguay, Uruguay;[29][30][31] these countries being recipients of a considerable Italian immigration between the end of the 19th century and the beginning of the 20th century. There is a ritual that accompanies lunch with gnocchi, namely putting money under the plate which symbolizes the desire for new gifts. It is also customary to leave a banknote or coin under the plate to attract luck and prosperity to the dinner.[32]

The tradition of serving gnocchi on the 29th of each month stems from a legend based on the story of Saint Pantaleon, a young doctor from Nicomedia who, after converting to Christianity, made a pilgrimage through northern Italy. There Pantaleon practiced miraculous cures for which he was canonized. According to legend, on one occasion when he asked Venetian peasants for bread, they invited him to share their poor table.[33] In gratitude, Pantaleon announced a year of excellent fishing and excellent harvests. That episode occurred on 29 July, and for this reason that day is remembered with a simple meal represented by gnocchi.[32]

Italian associations in Uruguay are relatively numerous. These are the main ones:

- Scuola Italiana di Montevideo

- Circle Lucano

- Association of Sons of Tuscany

- Association Veneti in Uruguay

- Group of Paysandú Lombardi

- Group Trentini Rivera

- Association of Lombards in Montevideo (Associazione Lombarda di Montevideo)

The following list has well-known Uruguayans who are Italian citizens or have Italian ancestry:

• Uruguayans in Italy
• Demographics of Uruguay
• Immigration to Uruguay
• Lunfardo
• Italy–Uruguay relations
• Italian Argentine

• Goebel, Michael. "Gauchos, Gringos and Gallegos: The Assimilation of Italian and Spanish Immigrants in the Making of Modern Uruguay 1880–1930," Past and Present (2010) 208(1): 191–229.
• Bresciano, Juan Andrés. "L'Immigrazione Italiana in Uruguay Nella Piu Recente Storiografia (1990-2005)." ["Italian immigration to Uruguay in the most recent historiography, 1990-2005"] Studi Emigrazione, June 2008, Vol. 45 Issue 170, pp 287–299

• Pi Hugarte, Renzo; Vidart, Daniel (1970). El legado de los inmigrantes (PDF) (in Spanish). Montevideo: Nuestra Tierra.