L'Italo-Americano

www.italoamericano.org 30 L'Italo-Americano THURSDAY, MAY 14, 2020 A madeo Peter G i a n n i n i , k n o w n a s " A m e r i c a ' s b a n k e r , " h a s now his own day of celebra- tion. On his 150th birthday anniversary, the city of San Francisco announced May 6 t h a s G i a n n i n i ' s d a y . The resolution, presented by Supervisors Catherine Ste- fani and Aaron Peskin, rec- ognizes the substantial con- t r i b u t i o n s o f t h e I t a l i a n d e s c e n t t o S a n F r a n c i s c o history and has received lots of support, especially from the Museo Italo-Ameri- cano, the first in the United States devoted exclusively to Italian and Italian-American art and culture. A m a d e o G i a n n i n i i s already known as one of the m a n y I t a l i a n s w h o m a d e America, therefore that's no surprise that, still today, both his personal story and professional achievements make everyone, both Italians a n d I t a l i a n - A m e r i c a n s , proud. It was in the middle of the 1 9 t h c e n t u r y w h e n h i s father, Luigi, spent time in California gold fields before h e v i s i t e d h i s h o m e l a n d a g a i n a n d b r o u g h t M a r i a Virginia De Martini to San J o s e a s h i s b r i d e i n m i d - 1869. The two had known e a c h o t h e r f o r o n l y s i x weeks, yet Amadeo was born in San Jose in May 1870, a few months after the couple h a d s e t t l e d d o w n i n California. The marriage though did not last long because of Mr G i a n n i n i ' s a b r u p t d e a t h . Amadeo's mother remarried t o L o r e n z o S c a t e n a , t h e o w n e r o f a s m a l l g r o c e r y business that required the whole family to move to San Francisco in 1882. This big c h a n g e i n A m a d e o ' s l i f e resulted in the decision to leave school at the age of 12 t o w o r k f u l l t i m e f o r h i s stepfather. That was just the beginning of an exceptional career, starting as a produce broker, commission mer- chant, and produce dealer for farms in the whole Santa Clara Valley. A n o t h e r w o m a n c o n - tributed to the success of this smart and enthusiastic man. Because of his mar- r i a g e t o F l o r i n d a C u n e o , daughter of a wealthy Italian i m m i g r a n t b a s e d i n S a n Francisco and owner of a l a r g e s t a k e i n C o l u m b u s S a v i n g s & L o a n , A m a d e o soon became Director at the same company. At that time in history, only the wealthi- est people in town were able to use banks in the way that we all know today. Amadeo, SERENA PERFETTO A.P. Giannini Day on May 6th becomes the everlasting celebration of his contributions to San Francisco's history A portrait of Amadeo Pietro Giannini, founder of the Bank of America, Coit Tower, San Francisco (Wikimedia) Continued to page 32 SAN FRANCISCO ITALIAN COMMUNITY

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