Domenico Colombo (1418-1496) was the father of the
Christopher ColumbusChristopher Columbus was a navigator, colonizer and explorer whose voyages across the Atlantic Ocean led to general European awareness of the American continents in the Western Hemisphere...
and Bartholomew Columbus. He was also a weaver.
He was born in 1418. He had 3 brothers, Franceschino, Giacomo and Bertino. His father, Giovanni Colombo, had apprenticed his son, Domenico, to the loom at age 11. Domenico, a third-generation master of his craft in Genoa, Italy, was also a shopkeeper. His secure, respectable position in the lower middle class did not, however, guarantee his having a firm work ethic.
Domenico Colombo (1418-1496) was the father of the
Christopher ColumbusChristopher Columbus was a navigator, colonizer and explorer whose voyages across the Atlantic Ocean led to general European awareness of the American continents in the Western Hemisphere...
and Bartholomew Columbus. He was also a weaver.
He was born in 1418. He had 3 brothers, Franceschino, Giacomo and Bertino. His father, Giovanni Colombo, had apprenticed his son, Domenico, to the loom at age 11. Domenico, a third-generation master of his craft in Genoa, Italy, was also a shopkeeper. His secure, respectable position in the lower middle class did not, however, guarantee his having a firm work ethic. Despite, or because of, having fingers in several problems, he was a poor provider and a worse credit risk, yet a pleasant, well-liked fellow withal.
In the boisterous, enterprising spirit of Genoa, he worked as a cheese maker, tavern keeper, and dealer in wool and wine. He married
Susanna FontanarossaSusanna Fontanarossa was the mother of Cristoforo Colombo, a Genoese wool weaver commonly believed to have been Christopher Columbus, the famous navigator and explorer who was generally credited as a discoverer of the Americas....
, the papers attest. Their firstborn was Cristoforo, in 1451; later came Giovanni Pellegrino, Bartolomeo, Giacomo, and daughter Bianchinetta. When he was found in financial difficulty, he was helped economically from Christopher. Forsaking the loom, two of his sons-Bartholomew and Christopher-went to sea. If Domenico had, however, been prosperous, Christopher might have spent his entire life at a loom.
He lived in a house to the Plan of Sant'Andrea. In the Straight Alley, in the quarter of Ponticello, neighbor to the Door of Sant' Andrea, call also Soprana Door. In this house, Domenico died in 1496.
The city of
Santo DomingoSanto Domingo, is the capital and largest city in the Dominican Republic. Its metropolitan population was 2,084,852 in 2003, estimated at 2,253,437 in 2006. The city is located on the Caribbean Sea, at the mouth of the Ozama River...
therefore was called from the Admiral in memory of his father Domenico (Domingo in Spanish).