Italian Ecuadorians (; ) are

Ecuador Ecuador, officially the Republic of Ecuador, is a country in northwestern South America, bordered by Colombia on the north, Peru on the east and south, and the Pacific Ocean on the west. It also includes the Galápagos Province which contain ...

ian-born citizens who are fully or partially of Italian descent, whose ancestors were

Italians Italians (, ) are a European peoples, European ethnic group native to the Italian geographical region. Italians share a common Italian culture, culture, History of Italy, history, Cultural heritage, ancestry and Italian language, language. ...

who emigrated to Ecuador during the

Italian diaspora The Italian diaspora (, ) is the large-scale emigration of Italians from Italy. There were two major Italian diasporas in Italian history. The first diaspora began around 1880, two decades after the Risorgimento, Unification of Italy, and ended ...

, or Italian-born people in Ecuador. Italian immigration to Ecuador has developed above all in the last two centuries. Ecuador is a country in which there are Italian communities, which – like other countries in Latin America – have spread throughout the national territory. The Italians who immigrated to Ecuador are predominantly Ligurian.

History

The first Italians heading to

embarked from the port of Genoa in the 19th century. Many of these Italians were sailors and inhabitants of rural regions, who ventured to emigrate to South American lands. First, they sailed to the Chilean ports, then the migratory waves extended to the northernmost ports (

Peru Peru, officially the Republic of Peru, is a country in western South America. It is bordered in the north by Ecuador and Colombia, in the east by Brazil, in the southeast by Bolivia, in the south by Chile, and in the south and west by the Pac ...

and Ecuador). A part of the Italian immigrants arrived in

Guayaquil Guayaquil (), officially Santiago de Guayaquil, is the largest city in Ecuador and also the nation's economic capital and main port. The city is the capital (political), capital of Guayas Province and the seat of Guayaquil Canton. The city is ...

from Peru, fleeing the Peruvian/Chilean war. Before

World War I World War I or the First World War (28 July 1914 – 11 November 1918), also known as the Great War, was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War I, Allies (or Entente) and the Central Powers. Fighting to ...

, a small colony of Italians existed in Ecuador; 650 in total, of whom 500 lived in Guayaquil. Almost two-thirds were originally from Liguria and were mainly engaged in trade between Ecuador and Europe. Starting from the 1920s, many Italians emigrated to the coasts of Ecuador; the vast majority settled in Guayaquil. In 1921, the Italians founded "La Previsora", the first financial company in Ecuador, which promoted the cultivation and marketing of Ecuadorian cocoa in the world. The Italian government sent the "Accorsi Mission" to Ecuador for economic-military aid and an agricultural colony of Italians was planned near the Colombian border, but the intervention of the United States and its oil companies (which feared the Italian presence) blocked everything. Italians were very well accepted in the country due to their integration with Ecuadorian culture. Along with the presence of the Spanish on the north and south coasts of the country, the Italians began to develop various activities on the coasts. In Guayaquil, they established shops and various industries. There are currently 19,000 Italian citizens and almost 56,000 descendants of Italians residing in Ecuador, being one of the lowest rates of migrant ancestry in the country, where Arabs and Spaniards play a more prominent role.

Notable Italian Ecuadorians

* Paúl Ambrosi, footballer * Ariel Graziani, footballer * Iván Kaviedes, footballer * Pietro Marsetti, footballer * Rosalina Santoro, footballer * Giannina Lattanzio, footballer * Giovanni Lapentti, tennis player * Nicolás Lapentti, tennis player * Renata Moreira, beauty pageant titleholder * César de Cesare, sprint canoeist * Luigi Stornaiolo Pimentel, painter * Diego Spotorno, actor and TV host * Luis Parodi, vice president of Ecuador (1988-1992) * Anggie Avegno, canoeist * Yela Loffredo, sculptor * Alicia Yánez Cossío, poet * Ricardo Mórtola, architect * Marieta de Veintemilla, first lady of Ecuador (1876-1883) * Lavinia Valbonesi, first lady of Ecuador (2023-) * Andrea Elizabeth Scacco, politician * Doménica Tabacchi, politician * Carolina Jaume, television actress and presenter.

References

Bibliography

* Estrada, Jenny. ''Los italianos de Guayaquil''. Editorial Sociedad Italiana Garibaldi. Quito, 1994 (In Spanish) * Soave, Paolo. ''La Scoperta Geopolitica Dell'Ecuador''. Editore Franco Angeli Genova, 2008 ISBN 8846494164 (In Italian) {{Ancestry and ethnicity in Ecuador Ethnic groups in Ecuador European diaspora in Ecuador

Ecuadorians

History

Notable Italian Ecuadorians

See also

References

Bibliography