Salvatore Sartori, known in Brazil as Salvador Sartori (Vicenza, October 20, 1827 - Caxias do Sul, July 8, 1899) was an Italian politician and merchant who became a naturalized Brazilian.
After a successful career as a road contractor in Italy, he got into difficulties and decided to emigrate to Brazil. He was one of the founders of Caxias do Sul, made his fortune in commerce, was a Catholic leader, and became an influential politician. He was one of the founders of the directory of the Riograndense Republican Party, was nominated by the state government to be part of the first Governmental Board during the emancipation of the municipality, and later was elected to the first Municipal Council, participating in the elaboration of fundamental laws for the organization of the community. He gained prominence in local society and gave birth to a prolific line of descendants, with several notorious members.
Family & Past in Italy
Salvador Sartori, son of Angelo Sartori and Giacomina Toffolon, was born in Vicenza. His family line has long antiquity and was founded by members of the retinue of the Florentine bishop Andrea dei Mozzi. After being involved in a scandal that made Dante Alighieri put him in the Inferno of his Divine Comedy, but which today is the object of skepticism, the bishop was transferred to the vacant see of Vicenza in 1295. He was accompanied by a court of which the Sartori were a part, a group that received fief in the commune of Roana, one of the Seven Communes of the Vicentine plateau, and joined the nobility of Vicenza as vassals of successive local bishops.
By 1500, the family had already acquired prominence and large holdings in the region, and had been added to the patriciate, the civic nobility of Vicenza. From the core of the Seven Communes and Vicenza, the Sartori produced vast descendants, joining the patriciate of several Veneto communes, and giving many notable members. However, in the 17th century, the civic statutes of the commune of Vicenza were reformed, excluding families practicing mechanical trades such as commerce from the patriciate. The lumber trade was the main source of income for the Sartori, and since then, they are no longer mentioned as nobles in this commune.
Not much is known about Salvador Sartori's life before he arrived in Brazil, and even there his story is poorly documented. The press was still incipient in the city, and the documentation of the City Council, of which he was a part, precisely the one referring to the period in which he was active, was mostly lost in a fire.
His family left Vicenza when Sartori was still young, possibly because of the political, social, and military unrest of that time. From the Napoleonic invasion in 1797, the commune spent a long period afflicted by war, popular revolts, and tyrannical governments. By 1832, the family was already established in the commune of Cornuda, province of Treviso. In 1854, Sartori married Angela Zancaner, who would give him eleven children: Ludovico, Lino, Amalia, Carolina, Maria, Luigi, Alberto, Massimo, Guerino, Settimo, and Attilio, who was born in Brazil. According to memories preserved by his great-grandson Ludovico Beretta Sartori, Salvador was a partner in a contractor specializing in road construction, but for some reason, his partner in the business came into conflict with the Cornuda authorities, damaging his interests. Faced with an adverse situation and seduced by a misleading propaganda of the Italian colonization agents in Brazil, who promised him great facilities in the New World, he sold all his assets and investments, which were still significant, and decided to seek a new life in America.
Life in Brazil
Salvador arrived in Caxias do Sul on February 20, 1879, during the great immigration wave at the end of the 19th century, taking part in the founding work of the city. When he arrived, there were no more lots available in the urban center, so he first settled in Travessão Umberto I da Sexta Légua, along with other family members. However, with the resources Salvador brought with him, in a few years he set up a large business in the Dante Alighieri square, the center of the emerging settlement, where he started to live. By 1883 he is already cited as the owner of a "business" and a bakery.