L'Italo-Americano

THURSDAY, NOVEMBER 12, 2020 www.italoamericano.org 36 L'Italo-Americano dei Tasso lies along the Via M e r c a t o r u m , a n a n c i e n t r o a d u s e d b y m e r c h a n t s when traveling from the val- ley to the Swiss and German cities and fairs. Not only the notable family was a family of noblemen and intellectu- a l s , b u t a l s o a f a m i l y o f smart business people and entrepreneurs. "They man- aged to develop a business empire by establishing the European postal service and running it for centuries," reveals Bottani. O m o d e o T a s s o g a v e rise to the family line in the 13th-century Cornello del Tasso. While remaining in the borgo, the progenitor Omodeo was the fi r s t t o provide postal service for la Serenissima (Venice). I n t h e 1 5 t h - c e n t u r y , t h e T a s s o f a m i l y s e r v e d a s c o u r i e r s f o r t h e p o p e . "Managing the papal postal service yielded great eco- nomic resources for them to the extent that they were able to open a bank in Rome that remained operational until 1518," Bottani explains. F r o m t h e y e a r 1 4 9 0 onwards, their business got b i g g e r a n d b i g g e r . T h e B e r g a m a s k f a m i l y e s t a b - l i s h e d a n e f f i c i e n t p o s t a l system at the behest of the House of Habsburg that was r e p r e s e n t e d b y t h e H o l y R o m a n E m p e r o r Maximilian I. They appoint- ed them as managers of the Postal Service of the empire because of their rich experi- ences in the courier services o f t h e p o p e a n d V e n i c e . "Janetto Tasso was the very first member of the family to s e r v e t h e H a b s b u r g E m p i r e , " s a y s B o t t a n i . "Janetto came into contact w i t h t h e i m p e r i a l c o u r t while working as a postal courier in the Papal State. His name appears numer- ous times in the documents in the Papal court registers, together with the names of t h e o t h e r c o u r i e r s i n t h e family." But it was F r a n c e s c o Tasso, who later set up the first cross-border messag- ing system, that paved the way for today's postal ser- v i c e . I n G a n d , S p a n i s h Netherlands, on March 1, 1 5 0 1 , h e w a s a p p o i n t e d " C h i e f e t M a i s t r e d e s Postes." Francesco is con- sidered the real inventor of t h e m o d e r n s y s t e m f o r delivering mail and the con- cept of a courier service. T h e B e r g a m a s k f a m i l y advanced their postal ser- v i c e t o i t s h i g h e s t l e v e l under Emperor Charles V when they organized a cap- illary network of state postal routes based on a sequence of horses ridden by a single rider via a series of orga- nized stages across Europe. " T h e f a m i l y m e m b e r s involved in the operation w e r e b r o t h e r s J a n e t t o , Francesco and Leonardo, a n d t h e n e p h e w s G i o v a n Battista, Simone, David, and M a f f e o , " s a y s B o t t a n i . " T h e i r n a m e s a p p e a r i n h u n d r e d s o f d o c u m e n t s detailing their work (and payments received) in vari- o u s E u r o p e a n c i t i e s . I n Brussels, Innsbruck, Fussen, Milan, Paris, Venice, Trento, Rome, and Naples, they set up new headquarters and branch offices, perfecting the service by opening a net- w o r k o f l o c a l l i n k s w i t h smaller cities." The couriers had to keep pace to meet travel times on v a r i o u s r o u t e s , e x p l a i n s Bottani. "The schedule was 44 hours from Brussels to P a r i s , f o u r d a y s f r o m Brussels to Innsbruck, 10 days from Brussels to Rome, etc." Bottani confirms that the Tasso family soon became o n e o f t h e m o s t r e l e v a n t European dynasties, a real multinational family firm to hold the monopoly on the imperial postal service for three centuries. In the 17th- century, after being granted t h e t i t l e o f p r i n c e s , t h e y Germanized their name t o b e c o m e v o n T h u r n und Taxis. They were also the first to issue stamps. T h e f a m i l y m a i n t a i n e d their steady commercial and f i n a n c i a l r o l e u n t i l 1 8 6 7 when European countries nationalized postal services due to new postal laws and regulations introduced by t h e N a p o l e o n i c r e g i m e . T o d a y , i t i s a b i l l i o n a i r e family whose assets include real estate, art, and 36,000 h e c t a r e s o f w o o d l a n d i n Germany, one of the largest forest holding in Europe. I n C o r n e l l o d e i T a s s o , ruins of their oldest resi- dence are still visible today. T h e T a s s o s h a d o t h e r homes, in both Cornello and Bretto, a nearby hamlet, and in the city of Bergamo as well. " O t h e r s i g n s o f t h e i r p o w e r a r e v i s i b l e i n t h e hamlet, such as their family coats of arms painted on the f a c a d e s o f h o u s e s t h a t s e r v e d a s t h e i r r e s i d e n c e from the 15th to 19th cen- turies," says Bottani. They also funded the construction of the local Saints Cornelius a n d C y p r i a n C h u r c h . "However, the ruins of their first home are the most elo- quent mark of their pres- ence," he says. Two other historic build- ings are worth a visit as they house a fascinating museum d e d i c a t e d t o t h i s u n i q u e f a m i l y a n d t h e h i s t o r y o f postal services in Europe. T h e m u s e u m p r e s e r v i n g many documents and arti- facts of the time is located in a little piazza siding the Via Mercatorum next to one of the Tassos' homes, a hand- p a i n t e d p o s t h o r n o n t h e facade indicating their past business. "The postal ser- vices played a great social r o l e i n t h e e v o l u t i o n o f mankind," explains Adriano C a t t a n i , d i r e c t o r o f t h e M u s e o d e i T a s s o e d e l l a Storia delle Poste and co- author with Tarcisio Bottani o f t h e b o o k C o r n e l l o e i Tasso. The family name Tasso or Taxis evokes a type of vehi- cle and a transport concept that started only in 19th- century Paris. I refer to the taxicab. The colligation is not difficult to imagine if we think that up to the 1860s, t h e B e r g a m a s k e n t r e p r e - neurs were dominant in the European communications sector with offices in Paris a s w e l l . I n t h e t i m e , t h e T a s s o s ' f a s t a n d r e l i a b l e postal services conveying letters had required some post routes that transported people. In 1891, with the inven- tion of the taximeter (the Latin word taxa translates as tax or charge), an instru- ment to calculate the fare b a s e d u p o n t h e d i s t a n c e traveled and waiting time, a new type of vehicle for hire w i t h a d r i v e r s t a r t e d t o thrive. The first American taxicabs were imported to N e w Y o r k f r o m P a r i s i n 1907. But no doubt, the Tasso family dynasty was into let- ters and avant-garde logis- tics. LIFESTYLE FASHION FOOD ARTS ADVICE Continued from page 34 An early edition of the Jerusalem Delivered. Photo: Museo dei Tasso e della Storia Postale A postal horn. Photo: Museo dei Tasso e della Storia Postale

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