People database
People from the Italian peninsula involved in the Atlantic slave trade and slavery, 15th–19th centuries. Search by name or filter by role, place, network and period.
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d’Este Isabella
1491Marchioness of Mantua, in 1491 she instructed her agent in Venice, Giorgio Brognolo, to procure for her an African girl, «una moreta», aged between one and a half and four years.
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d’Este Luigi
1580A cardinal of the House of Este, he owned eighty enslaved people at his villa in Tivoli. After their revolt, in 1580, he purchased another fifty.
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de Andrade Antonio
1750–1760Born in the village of Ybaga, in the «Rivera de la Chebe», jurisdiction of Genoa, the legitimate son of Juan Bautista de Andrade and Catalina Chuena (AAL, Testamento, 163:5). In his will he declared that he owned an enslaved man named Ventura, to whom he granted freedom, without any encumbrance, from the day of his own death, in reward for his good services and loyalty.
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De la Terola y Jordan Agustín
1753–1763Also known as Agustín de la Terola or Agustín Jordan, he was born in Finale, in the Republic of Genoa, the legitimate son of Joseph de la Terola y Jordan and Ana Maria Gordona y Graterola. Between 1755 and 1763 he is documented in three transactions involving enslaved people.
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de’ Medici Cosimo I
1555Duke of Florence and later Grand Duke of Tuscany, he owned enslaved people employed on the Medici galleys. A list of 1555 of the oarsmen in his possession includes a man described as «moro negro», employed on board as a trumpeter.
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de’ Medici Cosimo III
1680–1699 (decade)Grand Duke of Tuscany, between the 1680s and 1690s he had purchased for his court Eustachio, an African man skilled in the preparation of sweets «all'indiana», who remained his property. He also asked his agent Lorenzo Ginori to procure for him a young Black or Brazilian man skilled in the processing of sugar cane.
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Owner of an enslaved African woman named Barbera, who arrived in Livorno from Lisbon in 1461 through Giovanni Guidetti.
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Agent of the Cambini for the Pisa and Livorno branches, he was the owner of an enslaved African woman, Marta, who arrived in Livorno from Lisbon in 1461 through Giovanni Guidetti.
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Famiglia Baldovino
c. 1801–1810A Genoese family resident in Buenos Aires, included in the early nineteenth century in the register of households that owned enslaved people.
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Famiglia Ferrari
1804A Hispanicised Genoese family long settled in Buenos Aires, included in the city's 1804 register of slave owners. It lived in the most central districts, a sign of its integration.
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Famiglia Marzano
c. 1801–1810A Genoese family resident in Buenos Aires, recorded in the early nineteenth century among the households that owned enslaved people.
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Famiglia Parodi
c. 1801–1810A Genoese family resident in Buenos Aires, recorded in the early nineteenth century among the households that owned enslaved people.
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Ferrari Cayetan
1822Although he was already deceased, he appears in the proceedings of the Juzgado de Secuestros in Lima. His assets, which were valued at 8,000 pesos, included money, jewellery, enslaved people, and the furnishings of his fonda on Calle de Mercaderes.
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Owner of an inn in central Lima, he left an estate comprising 8,000 pesos in cash, jewellery, enslaved people, and the inn's utensils and furnishings.
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A physician, he owned two enslaved people.
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Foresti Luiz
1823–1830Registered as Italian and a music teacher, on 9 April 1829 he departed for Buenos Aires with his wife Maria Foresti, his daughter Virginia, a minor, a maidservant (criada), an enslaved person and an Italian woman, probably also in service.
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Fornari (Forne) Domingo
1518–1526With his brother Tomas, Augustin de Vivaldo and Fernan Vazquez he bought the licence that the King of Spain had granted to Gouvenot to bring 4,000 enslaved people to the Americas in eight years. It is not known how many people they sold, but they resold the licences at very high prices, making a profit of 300,000 ducats. The same company, with Genoese and Spanish capital, owned the ingenio of Sanctis Spiritu, just outside Santo Domingo.
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Fornari (Forne) Tomas
1518–1526With his brother Domingo, Augustin de Vivaldo and Fernan Vazquez he bought the licence that the King of Spain had granted to Gouvenot to bring 4,000 enslaved people to the Americas in eight years. It is not known how many people they sold, but they resold the licences at very high prices, making a profit of 300,000 ducats. The same company, with Genoese and Spanish capital, owned the ingenio of Sanctis Spiritu, just outside Santo Domingo.
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Francioni Joaquim
1823–1830Registered as Italian, on 31 October 1829 he departed from Rio de Janeiro for Porto Alegre with his wife, his son and nine enslaved people.
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Gaggero Pedro
1729–1741A Genoese active in the Spanish territories of America, he privately purchased enslaved people («compra particular de Negros») from Nicolás Alfonso Serrano in the years when the asiento de negros was managed by the English company.
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Gallino Domingo
1800–1826At the beginning of the nineteenth century, he appears in the census of enslaved people as a merchant and the owner of three enslaved individuals. Through trade (he opened a wholesale outlet) he purchased two buildings in the city, in calle Belgrano, and two properties in the vicinity of Buenos Aires: an estancia, where he raised cattle, sheep and horses, and a large plot with timber woods. During the war, he lent the government 408 cows, 123 horses, and eight enslaved people, worth 11,000 pesos. These were returned to the family in 1831.
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Gaso Nicolas
1800–1825Bartolo Gaso, born in the Kingdom of Genoa, the legitimate son of Nicolas Gaso and Maria Gaso (AGN, Protocolo 635, 1819). In his will he declared that he owned several enslaved people; for María Teresa, purchased for 490 pesos, he directed that she be sold for no more than 400 pesos and not outside the city, in reward for her good services. Between 1800 and 1818 he is also documented in eight transactions involving enslaved people.
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Giustiniani Esteban
1520–1535An agent of the company of Vivaldi, Forne and Grimaldi, he settled in Santo Domingo, where together with Pedro Vazquez de Mella he purchased a sugar plantation that became very productive. At the end of the 1520s he founded his own company, Giustiniani & Co., which traded in enslaved people and land. His partners were probably Melchor Centurione and Valian de Forne, already his partners in other operations.
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Granea Francisco
1827He was a pasta maker and owned three enslaved people. He lived with Vicenta Rissotto, an Italian woman from Montevideo, and their seven children, who were aged between 14 and 18.
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Guardi Benedetto
1467Owner of an enslaved African woman, Barbera, who arrived in Livorno from Lisbon through Giovanni Guidetti.