As every year since 2002 when it was inaugurated in October, the municipality of Valparaiso is preparing to celebrate the anniversary of the creation of the Mirador “City of Camogli”, one of the most beautiful panoramic points over its bay.
A clear tribute to the land of origin of the hundreds of migrants who arrived in Valparaíso from Italy and, in particular, from Liguria; there is also a plaque in homage to the citizens of Pieve Ligure who emigrated here at the end of the nineteenth century.
Yet another story of those who in past centuries have abandoned Liguria in search of fortune, but left their hearts in their country of origin.
Who knows if the Chileans of Italian and Ligurian origin residing in Valparaíso when they lean out of the viewpoint, closing their eyes, see the Pacific Ocean or the blue of the Golfo Paradiso.

Certainly you cannot ignore the beauty of one of the most beautiful seaside villages on the Ligurian Riviera: Camogli.
But if this is easy to find by looking for some beautiful photos on the internet, it is more difficult to find the deep maritime roots of this village, precisely those that have pushed the sailors of the Riviera di Levante overseas to arrive in distant Chile.

So here is a small taste of the stories we can offer you on a journey of the roots.
Camogli’s seafaring performances reached their peak in the nineteenth century when it was called the “city of a thousand white sailing ships”.

There were so many vessels owned by the maritime captains of Camogli that they had to move to Marseille to anchor them, as the small port of Camogli was not large enough.
But the story we tell you in this article is not that of the daring captains and enterprising shipowners who arrived as far as Chile.

Alongside them there were wives, mothers and daughters who, in sienzio, made an essential contribution to the management of families that were actually real companies. In the social fabric of Camogli in the nineteenth century, there were many women engaged in “managerial” roles.

Shipowners did not just invest capital in an economic enterprise, they were also the captains of their ships. When they left for journeys that could last years, the point of reference for the families of the crew members automatically became the captain’s wife.

It was she who received the news of the ship’s movements and took care of disseminating them and it was she who, having collected the freight payments from the shipping agents, gave the advances on the pay to the families of the crew members. She was the one who signed the receipts so that she could balance the accounts when she returned from the ship.
When there was news, they spread a tapestry of a certain color at the window of the house: the other wives, seeing it, hurried to visit them.
It was not unusual for the crew to own a certain number of shares in the profits of the vessel; The calculation of the carats complicated things but made the enterprising women of Camogli the best administrators of their family assets.

Camogli and the female presence

A trace of this type of female presence can be found by scrolling through the list of the Camogliese Maritime Insurance Company, where as early as 1854, next to the 80 names of registered shipowners, there is that of a woman: Rosa De Marchi. In a list of 1900, Elisa Mortola, Olivari’s widow, appears as the owner of two brigantines. In spite of the proverb that they were the bearers of misfortune on board, women who accompanied their husbands at sea were not uncommon.

Even overseas, the women of Camogli did not forget their origins: Mrs. Palestra, wife of Giobatta Lavarello who founded the river tugboat company at the end of the nineteenth century, did not abandon her activities after the death of her husband.
Through family alliances, he laid the foundation for the Mihanovich enterprise, with a fleet of river steamers amounting to a capital of 60 million pesos.

Mothers, wives, shipowners and boatswains, the women of Camogli of the golden age of sailing appear as strong and singular figures as much as their most vaunted husbands.

But this is another story that we will be happy to tell you during your journey back to your roots in Liguria. Contact us to find out more!