Capitán Pastene is a town founded by Italian immigrants, located in the commune of

Lumaco Lumaco is a town and commune in Malleco Province in the Araucanía Region of Chile. Its name in Mapudungun means "water of '' luma''". Lumaco is located to northeast of Temuco and from Angol. It shares a boundary to the north with the comm ...

in the

Araucanía Region The Araucanía ( ), La Araucanía Region ( es, Región de La Araucanía ) is one of Chile's 16 first-order administrative divisions, and comprises two provinces: Malleco in the north and Cautín in the south. Its capital and largest city is Te ...

Chile Chile, officially the Republic of Chile, is a country in the western part of South America. It is the southernmost country in the world, and the closest to Antarctica, occupying a long and narrow strip of land between the Andes to the eas ...

History

Capitán Pastene was initially founded with the name "Nueva Italia" in 1906. The first settlers were Italians brought by

Giorgio Ricci Giorgio Ricci (b. 1870 in Verica) was an Italian entrepreneur known for bringing Italian immigrants to Araucanía in Chile under fraudulent conditions. Araucanía had been recently incorporated to Chile (1861-1883) when Ricci in 1904 brought to C ...

, he had promised land suitable for agriculture, but settlers found themselves immersed in a zone of forested hills. In 1907 the settlement changed name to Capitán Pastene. Several houses recall the days of the earliest settlers of the 87 families, with nearly 770 members, who arrived in 1904 and 1905 from

Modena Modena (, , ; egl, label=Emilian language#Dialects, Modenese, Mòdna ; ett, Mutna; la, Mutina) is a city and ''comune'' (municipality) on the south side of the Po Valley, in the Province of Modena in the Emilia-Romagna region of northern I ...

in two successive migrations to focus initially on

agriculture Agriculture or farming is the practice of cultivating plants and livestock. Agriculture was the key development in the rise of sedentary human civilization, whereby farming of domesticated species created food surpluses that enabled peop ...

and

forestry Forestry is the science and craft of creating, managing, planting, using, conserving and repairing forests, woodlands, and associated resources for human and environmental benefits. Forestry is practiced in plantations and natural stands. ...

work. Soon a number of settlers moved out to the nearby towns of

Traiguén Traiguén () is a Chilean city and commune in the Malleco Province, Araucanía Region. Demographics According to the 2002 census of the National Statistics Institute, Traiguén spans an area of and has 19,534 inhabitants (9,734 men and 9,800 ...

and

Temuco Temuco () is a city and commune, capital of the Cautín Province and of the Araucanía Region in southern Chile. The city is located south of Santiago. The city grew out from a fort of the same name established in 1881 during Chile's invasion ...

or farther away to Santiago or Argentina. Settlers arrived from the northern

Italia Italy ( it, Italia ), officially the Italian Republic, ) or the Republic of Italy, is a country in Southern Europe. It is located in the middle of the Mediterranean Sea, and its territory largely coincides with the homonymous geographical ...

n region of

Emilia Romagna egl, Emigliàn (man) egl, Emiglièna (woman) rgn, Rumagnòl (man) rgn, Rumagnòla (woman) it, Emiliano (man) it, Emiliana (woman) or it, Romagnolo (man) it, Romagnola (woman) , population_note = , population_blank1_title ...

(

Bologna Bologna (, , ; egl, label=Emilian language, Emilian, Bulåggna ; lat, Bononia) is the capital and largest city of the Emilia-Romagna region in Northern Italy. It is the seventh most populous city in Italy with about 400,000 inhabitants and 1 ...

and major cities such as Modena) and left a generation of Italo-Chilean that lasts to this day, which has contributed to enriching the local culture. Capitán Pastene has 2,600 inhabitants many of whom are descendants from that first group from Modena. It is estimated that throughout the region known as "Pastene", people with kinship ties to migrants from Modena number over 16,000. Including the Chileans of Modena descent there are 800,000 Chileans of Italian ancestry, distant or close, including the Italian-Argentines transplanted to Chile.Italianos en Chile
''La colonización italiana en Chile, fragmentos de una travesía desde el norte de Italia a Valparaíso de Chile''. Currently, there is a considerable revival of

Italian traditions Traditions of Italy are sets of traditions, beliefs, values, and customs that belongs within the culture of Italian people. These traditions have influenced life in Italy for centuries, and are still practiced in modern times. Italian tradition ...

in the region of Capitan Pastene.

Juan Bautista Pastene

Givanni Battista Pastene (1507-!590), after whom the town is named, was a

Genoese Genoese may refer to: * a person from Genoa * Genoese dialect, a dialect of the Ligurian language * Republic of Genoa (–1805), a former state in Liguria See also * Genovese, a surname * Genovesi, a surname * * * * * Genova (disambiguati ...

maritime explorer. He was among the first to explore the Pacific in the sixteenth century. He was a lieutenant of

Pedro de Valdivia Pedro Gutiérrez de Valdivia or Valdiva (; April 17, 1497 – December 25, 1553) was a Spanish conquistador and the first royal governor of Chile. After serving with the Spanish army in Italy and Flanders, he was sent to South America in 1534, whe ...

, and when

Emperor Charles V Charles V, french: Charles Quint, it, Carlo V, nl, Karel V, ca, Carles V, la, Carolus V (24 February 1500 – 21 September 1558) was Holy Roman Emperor and Archduke of Austria from 1519 to 1556, King of Spain ( Castile and Aragon) fr ...

ordered the exploration of southern Chile, this task was entrusted to Pastene.

Twin cities

Capitán Pastene has been proposed to be nominated a ''

comune The (; plural: ) is a local administrative division of Italy, roughly equivalent to a township or municipality. It is the third-level administrative division of Italy, after regions ('' regioni'') and provinces ('' province''). The can ...

'' of southern Chile and thus to be a twin city of Pavullo, a small town near Modena. Most of the original settlers were from Pavullo and Verica.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Capitan Pastene Port settlements in Chile Communes of Chile Populated places established in 1905

Chilean Chilean may refer to: * Something of, from, or related to Chile, a country in South America * Chilean people * Chilean Spanish * Chilean culture * Chilean cuisine * Chilean Americans See also *List of Chileans This is a list of Chileans who ar ...

Populated places in Malleco Province 1905 establishments in Chile