ITALIANS IN TURKEY – OLD AND NEW IDENTITIES
Until now I have been invited to speak under different platforms about the Levantines, foreigners who have lived in Turkey for several generations. I welcome these opportunities as this concept can only live on with this spirit of elucidation. A Levantine spirit, one that looks East and West without pre-condition, without complex, an inheritance, and as a sub-nationality, the local Italians of my generation can exist either informed or in ignorance. However living with knowledge today allows us to see the future.
The Italians of Turkey today are fully integrated. Together with their Turkish brothers they are informed and respectful of the ways of the East and defend the shared national values Western thought. By accepting the dual nationality of Turkey and Italy, they celebrate their dual heritage. With the future accession of Turkey into the European Union, their European identity will be even more reinforced.
I would like to present the final declaration, in which I had a modest part in preparing, of the conference in Berlin in 2000 concerning on what type of identity Italians wished in Europe, a heritage preserved over time with zeal.
Conferenza Continentale di Berlino
Commissione: Identita Culturale e Valorizzazione del Patrimonio d’origine
La comunita italiana in Europa si fa portatrice di un’identita multinazionale, specificamente interculturale, comune a tutti i cittadini europei. In alcuni paesi i giovani italiani, caduta la necessita di mimetizzarsi nel tessuto sociale locale, stanno riscoprendo l’orgoglio di una “diversita” culturale e si accostano all’italiano come mezzo per riappropriarsi di questa diversita. Anche i croati, gli sloveni, gli italiani in Turchia riaffermano l’importanza della lingua e cultura italiana come fonte di identita. Si afferma il contributo fondamentale dato dalle donne italiane all’estero e la necessita di realizzare le pari opportunita.
Questa nuova identita é accompagnata dalla presa di coscienza dell’essere depositari di un’esperienza e di notevole sapere circa i problemi connessi alla realizzazione di un’Europa unita, come entita multiculturale e plurilingue, ed in grado di dare un importante contributo per affrontare e risolvere i problemi politici, sociali ed umani ad essa connessi.
La lingua italiana é vista come il fulcro su cui articolare e far crescere una nuova consapevolezza, mantenere i legami tra le generazioni residenti, rinsaldare il vincolo con il paese di provenienza e dare un contributo decisivo per un migliore inserimento nel mondo europeo, a cui le nuove generazioni possono partecipare con la dignita di cittadini, la cui cultura viene riconosciuta e sentita come fattore di arricchimento.
La comunita italiana in Europa vuole riappropriarsi del proprio passato inteso come un grande capitolo della storia d’Italia e d’Europa. E neccessaria quindi la promozione di ricerche sull’emigrazione e la mobilita nei vari paesi, per conservare un patrimonio di esperienze e come omaggio alle prime generazioni. [hover here for translation]
I must congratulate the organizers of this symposium for the resulting project of research and archiving of the heritage of the Italians and its diaspora. The diaspora is an important concept here as due to the vagaries of history many Italians originally of Venice and Genoa took up other nationalities through the generations.
In his “Constantinople” book, Philip Mansel states: “One of the famous dragoman families of Istanbul, the Genoese Testa refused to be imprisoned in one nationality”. These words may be a bit surprising but Genoa had fallen, and the Testas were probably quite sensible in being rational opportunities versus an emotional attachment to statehood.
My family today has branches in Italy, Turkey, Austria, America and Greece, all citizens of those countries they reside in, but the root is the same: Venice.
Now for an overall view, I would like to briefly review the story of Italians (or rather from the land today termed Italy) in the Turkish lands. Just as Turkey is the inheritor of the Ottomans, Italy is the inheritor of the Romans. 200 BC Izmir was the gateway to near-Eastern conquest. No doubt in the period of PAX ROMANA (B.C. 189-133), Izmir was a classic Roman colony with Romans as merchants (mercatores), businessmen (negociatores), with a Roman governor, military garrison and luxurious villas.
In his book ‘Smyrne et l’Occident’, Leon Kontente states, “Roman notion of nationality has generally been used to designate all those who have come from the Italian boot”.
The kings of Pergamon, the Attalids, give their state up to Roman hegemony in B.C.133. A book on Pergamon, written by two Dominican friars in 1936, describes in an enthusiastic way the marriages between those of the royal line of the Pergamon kingdom and the Roman aristocracy leading to a new identity of symbiosis, the Quadratos given as an example. The Quadratos in turn rise up to the rank of generals in the Roman army and district governors. This family will re-emerge when I pick the story later in Chios.
In A.D. 395, the Eastern Roman Empire is established, centred in Istanbul. The union of the Romans with the indigenous population creates this Eastern Roman identity. Later the Ottomans using this Roman notion and the word, designate all the Orthodox population post the conquest of Istanbul as “Rum”. The Byzantine Empire both in Europe and in Turkey has an unfortunate image repeated regularly with sayings such as “Byzantine manoeuvrings”, “Byzantine intrigues”. In truth they protected the West from the Persians, Arabs and Eastern marauders for centuries. It is a civilization that has left behind many works of art. The emperors of Byzantium always titled themselves as the ruler of Rome, Basileus Romeon, and Constantinople (Istanbul) as new Rome, second Rome, and its citizens as Romans. It is thought the designation Byzantine was used initially in the 14th century.
According to Robert Byron: “The greatness of the Byzantine Empire is the mixture of these 3 characteristics – a Roman body, a Greek head, and a soul of Eastern mysticism”.
In his book “Byzantium”, John Julius Norwich adds the following in reference to the observations of the first Crusaders to come to Istanbul: “Per un contadino francese o un cittadino di un piccolo borgo mediavale tedesco la capitale piu opulenta e lussuosa del mondo, con i suoi nobili stranamente vertiti e il loro corteo di schiavi ed eunuchi con le sue grandi dame nelle portantine dorate, il volto luccicante di biacca sara sicuramente stato un spettacolo incredible e sconvolgente.” [hover here for translation]
According to İlber Ortaylı in his book ‘İstanbul’dan sayfalar’ [pages from Istanbul], following the 1204 Latin occupation of Istanbul, amongst those who had settled in the city included the Italian Morosini and Baltazzi families.
I would respectfully wish further information from this academic as my genealogical researches are limited to the Ottoman period. As far as I could ascertain with documents, following Nicolo Baltazzi in 1725 in Chios, the first to come from Venice to Izmir was Marino Baltazzi, marking the beginning of the settlement of the Baltazzis in Izmir and Istanbul.1 The family entered in a range of trade activities, such as maritime trade with their relations in Chios, and the financial/banking interests with their part in the establishment in Istanbul of the first bank of the Ottoman Empire.2 It would be unfair not to add the important contributions to the Turkish museums and archaeology, my great-grandfather Demostene Baltazzi (1836 – 1896) through his archaeological excavations and research. Another pleasing development is the continuation of archaeological excavations under Prof. S. Lagona3 in Kyme, work started by Demostene Baltazzi, situated within the old Baltazzi farm in the Aliağa region (within the district of Izmir).
Amongst the founders of Societa Operaia [Italian workers mutual benefit association of Istanbul] there is a Pietro Baldazzi, a person I cannot pin down in my family tree. According to information obtained by a cousin of mine from an Italian genealogical association, the name Baldazzi stretches back to the remote epoch of Venice, with documentation from 1480. However without documentary proof we cannot be 100% sure of Pietro Baldazzi being of the same branch as the Baltazzis. However, what I am certain of is information revealed in the book of historical recollections of Societa Operia (Memorie Storiche 1863-1911), on page 23, that amongst those members petitioning for financial support from the commission are the bankers Camondo, Veneziani and Baltazzi. The Galata bankers were at the forefront of charitable deeds whether this involved the erection of buildings in the city or disaster relief of any kind. According to the article of Mehmet Altun published in June 2003 in the Tarih Toplum [History and Society] magazine, based on the effects of the big Beyoğlu fire, leaving according to the Basiret newspaper dated 17/9/1870, 28,089 (1,161 of them Italians) homeless: “It was decided to unify the relief work of the Italian community under the representation of two delegates, Baltazzi and Veneziani in lieu of Avram Camondo.
The same benevolence would not be limited to Istanbul. In the Izmir fire of 1860, again it was the Italian background bankers Tubini, Corpi and A. Baltazzi4 providing aid to a considerable value5 and the same generosity we would see in a bigger way with the great earthquake of Chios of 1881.6
As we all know, during Byzantine and Ottoman periods there was a resident population in Istanbul and Izmir originating from the Italian maritime republics. Going back to the XIth century the Venetians, Genoese, Pisans and Amalphians lived in Galata and Pera in a semi-autonomous way under their Comunita Magnifica. There was a similar community in Izmir which was an important port. The Genoese with families such as Zacharia and Giustiniani, become locally dominant in the naval trade through the Mahona system with bases in Foça (1215), and Izmir (1261). In 1402 as part of the St. Jean order, Italian family names of Orsini, Del Caretto and Mucettola are visible from their bastion of Halikarnassos / Bodrum castle. The Venetians and Genoese establish a ring of bases all around the Aegean, at Edremit, Bursa, Black Sea…
Charles Texier in his book Asie Mineure states: ‘Les comptoirs fortifies Genois étaient des vraies citadelles. Ces etablissements furent si nombreux qu’aprés 5 ou 6 siécles, la quelque age qu’elles appartiennent sont designees par eux sous le nom de Ceneviz Kalma, Ceneviz Kalesi, Ruines Genoises, Chateaux Genois.’ [The fortified Genoese edifices were true citadels. These buildings were so numerous that after 5 or 6 centuries the tradition was conserved in the collective memory of the Turks and all important ruins of antiquity were designated by them under the names of ‘left over from the Genoese’, ‘Genoese Castle’ and ‘Genoese Ruins’.]
According to Venetian records, after the naval battle of Lepanto (İnebahtı) (1571) the trade conditions in Istanbul deteriorate and as a result the Venetian settlers from then onwards don’t come from the richest merchant class but of lower order. Also noted in those records is that the Sultan Suleyman the Magnificient, through his thriftiness causes a lean time in the trade of luxury fabrics.
The author of ‘Situation de la Chretienté de Pera’, states that the community there no longer labelled themselves as Magnifica. The majority were Italian and including the servants didn’t exceed 600. The families who could be termed noble included – Perone, Fornetti, Negri, Draperis, Navoni, Brutti, Grillo, Salvago, Testa, Borisi, D’Andria, Timoni, Tarsia, Marini… These families would provide Dragomans (translators) to the embassies. They lived a luxurious life within a ghetto. Their balls and receptions were famous. The men would dress in Turkish style (wrapped turban, Ragusan or Mantovan hats), and the women would dress in a manner unchanged since the time of the crusades. They applied excessive make-up, and called themselves Chiarezza (light) Illustrissima (famous).7
The Dragomans, translators for the embassies and the Sublime Porte would be selected from the Catholic and Orthodox communities. However a clash of interests between these two communities in 1660 resulted in the Sublime Porte dragomans to be chosen exclusively from the Greek Phanariots, and mixed marriages between these two communities became rare. However the Venetian senate in 1710 gave official recognition to mixed marriages8. Many Greek islands in the Aegean were at the time under Venetian rule and mixed marriages were widespread, and this together with the fact that the Orthodox church was not only more powerful in that geography, but assumed a national character, meant that many later generation Italian background families became Greek. A Greek friend of mine from the island of Zakinthos (Zante) has the Venetian surname Martinengo. In general it is stated that many Greeks (particularly at a time before the country became independent) and other indigenous non-Moslem merchants, in order to take advantage of ‘Capitulations’ privileges, became citizens of foreign countries and became privileged (Protetti) merchants. There are those who have seen this in a non-approving light or caricaturising it. However, it needs to be borne in mind that an objective appraisal of these can only be done by considering individual circumstances and the conditions of that epoch. With time and migrations these families created family lineages that were multi-national and multi-denominational.
There has always been migrations from the Aegean islands to Istanbul and Izmir. Chios island was the transient home during the 18th and 19th centuries of the majority of Italians (majority of whom were originally from Genoa) who lived or a minority continue to live in Turkey, with the islands of Syra, Tinos, Naxos and Santorini also playing their part.
Some of our authors such as Willy Sperco and Rinaldo Marmara have written books on this subject and have documented the various Latin names.
During the Byzantine era Chios was under Genoese rule and there existed a merchant oligarchy under the name ‘Mahona’. This system was continued under subsequent Ottoman rule with minor modifications till 1822. The grand families of Chios to retain control of the maritime trade of the Mediterranean and the Black Sea would marry amongst themselves. The Orthodox faith was dominant and they would receive political backing from relations who would rise in the Ottoman establishment to become Phanariot Beys and Voivods of Eflak / Bogdan (roughly today’s Romania and Moldavia).
There is a book published, ‘Libro d’Oro de la Noblese Grecque de Chios’ by the Italian background Philip Argenti and though many noble Italian families are detailed in this book, not all Latins were happy with its content. I am friendly with the last Argenti, Lorenzo, who lives in Milan, is Italian and happens to be a distant relation. In the spirit of bringing these Chian families together and avoiding splits resulting from definitions based on faiths, I penned an article on my page in this web site titled ‘The Chians’. In the future I hope to include the contribution of the small Turkish population that also lived on the island of whom one rose up to be a Sadrazam (equivalent of prime minister of the Ottoman Empire), Ibrahim Edhem Sakızlı.
Concepts that lead to unification are my preference. In any case when one delves deeper into these subjects and research is based on ‘religious identity’, mismatches with genealogy appear. Venice occupied Chios in 1694 and retained it for a short time. When it was recaptured by the Ottomans many Catholic families to avoid imprisonment switched to the Orthodox (Rum) faith. There are many examples of dual Christian faith families such as the Calvocoressi, Grimaldi, Damala, Baltazzi, Negroponte and Salvago. The Mavrocordato (or their allied branch Mavrogordato) that are related to the Baltazzis, may also be related to the ancient family of Quadratos. According to Philip Argenti in his Libro d’Oro, the reason why the signatory for the Ottoman side of the Carlovitz (1699) agreement, the Phanariot Bey Alexandre Mavrocordato signed himself as Maurocordato may possibly be to highlight his family’s link with the Quadrotos. If this is true this Pergamon/Roman – Byzantine/Chian family played an important political role through 19 centuries, covering 2 kingdoms and 2 empires. Of course without documentary proof this is mere speculation.
There are interesting impressions penned by travellers to Istanbul and Izmir, from Italy, France, England, Germany and other Europeans, however there are areas where their observations are incorrect, especially when it comes to the ‘Levantines’. It is not easy to understand such complex identities in about a month’s residence. As I mentioned in my ‘Galata’ article, in the harbour area there was a lingua franca spoken understood by the locals, impenetrable to the travellers. However what they couldn’t and didn’t want to understand wasn’t limited to the language. The moral nature of Galata that they criticised wasn’t any worse than any other port in the world. The free and easy nature of life in Pera wasn’t over and above that of a cosmopolitan centre elsewhere. Philip Mansell, an author who I admire, in his ‘Constantinople: city of desire’ work stated that it was Barones Maria Vetsera who brought the license of Pera to the Palaces of Vienna. My cousin Mary10 who was the grand-daughter of the famous banker Theodore Baltazzi,9 from the age 17 till in 1889 when she committed suicide together with archduke Rudolf, wasn’t allowed to leave home alone11. Court gossip did not carry much honour.
I would like to mention some of the pertinent observations of Edmondo de Amicis of Istanbul12 “While the Italian colony is one of the most numerous of the city, it is not one of the wealthiest. Amongst them were some who were wealthy, but many who were poor and particularly unemployed labourers from Southern Italy. The Press reported most of the pauper-houses13 from this colony”.
And I didn’t want to finish this piece without paying homage to them.
Alessandro Baltazzi 2006
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[1] Evangelino Baltazzi (1748-1809) married Vierou Mavrogordato of Chios and lived in Bornova (Izmir), his son Emanuele Baltazzi (1790?-1855) married Caterina Petrocochino again of Chios, settled in Istanbul and the house he built in Beyoğlu (Pera) marks the first official approval to a foreigner to build. When Venice fell Emanuele became a citizen of Austria.
[2] The Galata bankers Emanuele Baltazzi and Jacques Alleon, with a secret agreement with the Sublime Porte (the Sultan) in 1843 were able to maintain a fixed rate of exchange for the currency (£1 = 110 Kuruş). This policy was successful till 1849 and as a result of that the first official bank of the Ottoman Empire was founded - Istanbul (Dersaadet) Bank - Banque de Constantinople. In 1854 the Şirket-i Hayriye, the first Ottoman Company was founded to convey passengers between the two shores of the Bosphorus, and Emanuel Baltazzi was responsible for the importation of the ferries from England and because he provided his services for no profit, the Sultan donated 10 of the firm’s shares to him.
[3] Sebastiana Lagona, Kyme d’Eolide (Arti Grafiche Le Cimiere – Catania)]
[4] Aristide Bey (1831-1887), son of Emanuele, together with the Ottoman Bank Camondo, Zarifi and other Galata Bankers, established the Societe Generale Bank in 1864, and also held high positions of office such as mayor of Büyükdere, general director of the Forestry department, and finance vice minister. He was honoured with a Mecidiye decoration and with the Legion D’Honneur. While Aristide Baltazzi Bey was the chairman of Societe Generale, the Italian national Salomon Fernandez was the director general.
[5] Prof. Haydar Kazgan, Osmanlı’dan Cumhuriyet’e Türk Bankacılık Tarihi [The history of Banking from the Ottoman era till the Republic]
[6] Rinaldo Marmara, Chio
[7] Mihail Sturdza, Dictionnaire des grandes familles de Grece, d’Albanie et de Constantinople [Compendium of the great families of Greece, Albania and Constantinople]
[8] Mihail Sturdza, Dictionnaire des grandes familles de Grece, d’Albanie et de Constantinople
[9] Teodoro Baltazzi (1798-1860) together with his brother Emanuele who lived in the yali neighbouring the Italian Embasssy residence in Tarabya (Villa Tarabya) were amongst the forefront of Galata bankers. They had partners in financial centres such as Vienna, London and Marseilles. Teodoro’s wife was the English Elisabeth Sarell (1823-1863). He was bestowed the Austrian knight’s decoration. Teodoro and Elisabeth had 10 children. Their daughter Elena (1847-1925) married in Istanbul the Austrian diplomat Baron Albin Vetsera (1825-1887) in 1864. Since their parents had died Albin Vetsera moved to Austria all of Teodoro and Elisa’s children who were under the guardianship of his wife.
[10] Mary von Vetsera was the daughter of Baron Albin Vetsera and Elena Baltazzi. She was born 19th March 1871 in Vienna and died in Mayerling on 30th January 1889. Officially her cause of death was suicide, but the actual truth is still not certain and this has led to new speculations till today reflected in books and films produced.
[11] Elena Vetsera – Mayerling (Tr. Itl. Silvana Tessili) Edizione Studio Tesi, 1992
[12] Edmondo de Amicis – Translation Prof. Beynun Akyavaş, Constantinopoli – Istanbul, 1874
[13] Pauper house: a few
Until now I have been invited to speak under different platforms about the Levantines, foreigners who have lived in Turkey for several generations. I welcome these opportunities as this concept can only live on with this spirit of elucidation. A Levantine spirit, one that looks East and West without pre-condition, without complex, an inheritance, and as a sub-nationality, the local Italians of my generation can exist either informed or in ignorance. However living with knowledge today allows us to see the future.
The Italians of Turkey today are fully integrated. Together with their Turkish brothers they are informed and respectful of the ways of the East and defend the shared national values Western thought. By accepting the dual nationality of Turkey and Italy, they celebrate their dual heritage. With the future accession of Turkey into the European Union, their European identity will be even more reinforced.
I would like to present the final declaration, in which I had a modest part in preparing, of the conference in Berlin in 2000 concerning on what type of identity Italians wished in Europe, a heritage preserved over time with zeal.
Conferenza Continentale di Berlino
Commissione: Identita Culturale e Valorizzazione del Patrimonio d’origine
La comunita italiana in Europa si fa portatrice di un’identita multinazionale, specificamente interculturale, comune a tutti i cittadini europei. In alcuni paesi i giovani italiani, caduta la necessita di mimetizzarsi nel tessuto sociale locale, stanno riscoprendo l’orgoglio di una “diversita” culturale e si accostano all’italiano come mezzo per riappropriarsi di questa diversita. Anche i croati, gli sloveni, gli italiani in Turchia riaffermano l’importanza della lingua e cultura italiana come fonte di identita. Si afferma il contributo fondamentale dato dalle donne italiane all’estero e la necessita di realizzare le pari opportunita.
Questa nuova identita é accompagnata dalla presa di coscienza dell’essere depositari di un’esperienza e di notevole sapere circa i problemi connessi alla realizzazione di un’Europa unita, come entita multiculturale e plurilingue, ed in grado di dare un importante contributo per affrontare e risolvere i problemi politici, sociali ed umani ad essa connessi.
La lingua italiana é vista come il fulcro su cui articolare e far crescere una nuova consapevolezza, mantenere i legami tra le generazioni residenti, rinsaldare il vincolo con il paese di provenienza e dare un contributo decisivo per un migliore inserimento nel mondo europeo, a cui le nuove generazioni possono partecipare con la dignita di cittadini, la cui cultura viene riconosciuta e sentita come fattore di arricchimento.
La comunita italiana in Europa vuole riappropriarsi del proprio passato inteso come un grande capitolo della storia d’Italia e d’Europa. E neccessaria quindi la promozione di ricerche sull’emigrazione e la mobilita nei vari paesi, per conservare un patrimonio di esperienze e come omaggio alle prime generazioni. [hover here for translation]
I must congratulate the organizers of this symposium for the resulting project of research and archiving of the heritage of the Italians and its diaspora. The diaspora is an important concept here as due to the vagaries of history many Italians originally of Venice and Genoa took up other nationalities through the generations.
In his “Constantinople” book, Philip Mansel states: “One of the famous dragoman families of Istanbul, the Genoese Testa refused to be imprisoned in one nationality”. These words may be a bit surprising but Genoa had fallen, and the Testas were probably quite sensible in being rational opportunities versus an emotional attachment to statehood.
My family today has branches in Italy, Turkey, Austria, America and Greece, all citizens of those countries they reside in, but the root is the same: Venice.
Now for an overall view, I would like to briefly review the story of Italians (or rather from the land today termed Italy) in the Turkish lands. Just as Turkey is the inheritor of the Ottomans, Italy is the inheritor of the Romans. 200 BC Izmir was the gateway to near-Eastern conquest. No doubt in the period of PAX ROMANA (B.C. 189-133), Izmir was a classic Roman colony with Romans as merchants (mercatores), businessmen (negociatores), with a Roman governor, military garrison and luxurious villas.
In his book ‘Smyrne et l’Occident’, Leon Kontente states, “Roman notion of nationality has generally been used to designate all those who have come from the Italian boot”.
The kings of Pergamon, the Attalids, give their state up to Roman hegemony in B.C.133. A book on Pergamon, written by two Dominican friars in 1936, describes in an enthusiastic way the marriages between those of the royal line of the Pergamon kingdom and the Roman aristocracy leading to a new identity of symbiosis, the Quadratos given as an example. The Quadratos in turn rise up to the rank of generals in the Roman army and district governors. This family will re-emerge when I pick the story later in Chios.
In A.D. 395, the Eastern Roman Empire is established, centred in Istanbul. The union of the Romans with the indigenous population creates this Eastern Roman identity. Later the Ottomans using this Roman notion and the word, designate all the Orthodox population post the conquest of Istanbul as “Rum”. The Byzantine Empire both in Europe and in Turkey has an unfortunate image repeated regularly with sayings such as “Byzantine manoeuvrings”, “Byzantine intrigues”. In truth they protected the West from the Persians, Arabs and Eastern marauders for centuries. It is a civilization that has left behind many works of art. The emperors of Byzantium always titled themselves as the ruler of Rome, Basileus Romeon, and Constantinople (Istanbul) as new Rome, second Rome, and its citizens as Romans. It is thought the designation Byzantine was used initially in the 14th century.
According to Robert Byron: “The greatness of the Byzantine Empire is the mixture of these 3 characteristics – a Roman body, a Greek head, and a soul of Eastern mysticism”.
In his book “Byzantium”, John Julius Norwich adds the following in reference to the observations of the first Crusaders to come to Istanbul: “Per un contadino francese o un cittadino di un piccolo borgo mediavale tedesco la capitale piu opulenta e lussuosa del mondo, con i suoi nobili stranamente vertiti e il loro corteo di schiavi ed eunuchi con le sue grandi dame nelle portantine dorate, il volto luccicante di biacca sara sicuramente stato un spettacolo incredible e sconvolgente.” [hover here for translation]
According to İlber Ortaylı in his book ‘İstanbul’dan sayfalar’ [pages from Istanbul], following the 1204 Latin occupation of Istanbul, amongst those who had settled in the city included the Italian Morosini and Baltazzi families.
I would respectfully wish further information from this academic as my genealogical researches are limited to the Ottoman period. As far as I could ascertain with documents, following Nicolo Baltazzi in 1725 in Chios, the first to come from Venice to Izmir was Marino Baltazzi, marking the beginning of the settlement of the Baltazzis in Izmir and Istanbul.1 The family entered in a range of trade activities, such as maritime trade with their relations in Chios, and the financial/banking interests with their part in the establishment in Istanbul of the first bank of the Ottoman Empire.2 It would be unfair not to add the important contributions to the Turkish museums and archaeology, my great-grandfather Demostene Baltazzi (1836 – 1896) through his archaeological excavations and research. Another pleasing development is the continuation of archaeological excavations under Prof. S. Lagona3 in Kyme, work started by Demostene Baltazzi, situated within the old Baltazzi farm in the Aliağa region (within the district of Izmir).
Amongst the founders of Societa Operaia [Italian workers mutual benefit association of Istanbul] there is a Pietro Baldazzi, a person I cannot pin down in my family tree. According to information obtained by a cousin of mine from an Italian genealogical association, the name Baldazzi stretches back to the remote epoch of Venice, with documentation from 1480. However without documentary proof we cannot be 100% sure of Pietro Baldazzi being of the same branch as the Baltazzis. However, what I am certain of is information revealed in the book of historical recollections of Societa Operia (Memorie Storiche 1863-1911), on page 23, that amongst those members petitioning for financial support from the commission are the bankers Camondo, Veneziani and Baltazzi. The Galata bankers were at the forefront of charitable deeds whether this involved the erection of buildings in the city or disaster relief of any kind. According to the article of Mehmet Altun published in June 2003 in the Tarih Toplum [History and Society] magazine, based on the effects of the big Beyoğlu fire, leaving according to the Basiret newspaper dated 17/9/1870, 28,089 (1,161 of them Italians) homeless: “It was decided to unify the relief work of the Italian community under the representation of two delegates, Baltazzi and Veneziani in lieu of Avram Camondo.
The same benevolence would not be limited to Istanbul. In the Izmir fire of 1860, again it was the Italian background bankers Tubini, Corpi and A. Baltazzi4 providing aid to a considerable value5 and the same generosity we would see in a bigger way with the great earthquake of Chios of 1881.6
As we all know, during Byzantine and Ottoman periods there was a resident population in Istanbul and Izmir originating from the Italian maritime republics. Going back to the XIth century the Venetians, Genoese, Pisans and Amalphians lived in Galata and Pera in a semi-autonomous way under their Comunita Magnifica. There was a similar community in Izmir which was an important port. The Genoese with families such as Zacharia and Giustiniani, become locally dominant in the naval trade through the Mahona system with bases in Foça (1215), and Izmir (1261). In 1402 as part of the St. Jean order, Italian family names of Orsini, Del Caretto and Mucettola are visible from their bastion of Halikarnassos / Bodrum castle. The Venetians and Genoese establish a ring of bases all around the Aegean, at Edremit, Bursa, Black Sea…
Charles Texier in his book Asie Mineure states: ‘Les comptoirs fortifies Genois étaient des vraies citadelles. Ces etablissements furent si nombreux qu’aprés 5 ou 6 siécles, la quelque age qu’elles appartiennent sont designees par eux sous le nom de Ceneviz Kalma, Ceneviz Kalesi, Ruines Genoises, Chateaux Genois.’ [The fortified Genoese edifices were true citadels. These buildings were so numerous that after 5 or 6 centuries the tradition was conserved in the collective memory of the Turks and all important ruins of antiquity were designated by them under the names of ‘left over from the Genoese’, ‘Genoese Castle’ and ‘Genoese Ruins’.]
According to Venetian records, after the naval battle of Lepanto (İnebahtı) (1571) the trade conditions in Istanbul deteriorate and as a result the Venetian settlers from then onwards don’t come from the richest merchant class but of lower order. Also noted in those records is that the Sultan Suleyman the Magnificient, through his thriftiness causes a lean time in the trade of luxury fabrics.
The author of ‘Situation de la Chretienté de Pera’, states that the community there no longer labelled themselves as Magnifica. The majority were Italian and including the servants didn’t exceed 600. The families who could be termed noble included – Perone, Fornetti, Negri, Draperis, Navoni, Brutti, Grillo, Salvago, Testa, Borisi, D’Andria, Timoni, Tarsia, Marini… These families would provide Dragomans (translators) to the embassies. They lived a luxurious life within a ghetto. Their balls and receptions were famous. The men would dress in Turkish style (wrapped turban, Ragusan or Mantovan hats), and the women would dress in a manner unchanged since the time of the crusades. They applied excessive make-up, and called themselves Chiarezza (light) Illustrissima (famous).7
The Dragomans, translators for the embassies and the Sublime Porte would be selected from the Catholic and Orthodox communities. However a clash of interests between these two communities in 1660 resulted in the Sublime Porte dragomans to be chosen exclusively from the Greek Phanariots, and mixed marriages between these two communities became rare. However the Venetian senate in 1710 gave official recognition to mixed marriages8. Many Greek islands in the Aegean were at the time under Venetian rule and mixed marriages were widespread, and this together with the fact that the Orthodox church was not only more powerful in that geography, but assumed a national character, meant that many later generation Italian background families became Greek. A Greek friend of mine from the island of Zakinthos (Zante) has the Venetian surname Martinengo. In general it is stated that many Greeks (particularly at a time before the country became independent) and other indigenous non-Moslem merchants, in order to take advantage of ‘Capitulations’ privileges, became citizens of foreign countries and became privileged (Protetti) merchants. There are those who have seen this in a non-approving light or caricaturising it. However, it needs to be borne in mind that an objective appraisal of these can only be done by considering individual circumstances and the conditions of that epoch. With time and migrations these families created family lineages that were multi-national and multi-denominational.
There has always been migrations from the Aegean islands to Istanbul and Izmir. Chios island was the transient home during the 18th and 19th centuries of the majority of Italians (majority of whom were originally from Genoa) who lived or a minority continue to live in Turkey, with the islands of Syra, Tinos, Naxos and Santorini also playing their part.
Some of our authors such as Willy Sperco and Rinaldo Marmara have written books on this subject and have documented the various Latin names.
During the Byzantine era Chios was under Genoese rule and there existed a merchant oligarchy under the name ‘Mahona’. This system was continued under subsequent Ottoman rule with minor modifications till 1822. The grand families of Chios to retain control of the maritime trade of the Mediterranean and the Black Sea would marry amongst themselves. The Orthodox faith was dominant and they would receive political backing from relations who would rise in the Ottoman establishment to become Phanariot Beys and Voivods of Eflak / Bogdan (roughly today’s Romania and Moldavia).
There is a book published, ‘Libro d’Oro de la Noblese Grecque de Chios’ by the Italian background Philip Argenti and though many noble Italian families are detailed in this book, not all Latins were happy with its content. I am friendly with the last Argenti, Lorenzo, who lives in Milan, is Italian and happens to be a distant relation. In the spirit of bringing these Chian families together and avoiding splits resulting from definitions based on faiths, I penned an article on my page in this web site titled ‘The Chians’. In the future I hope to include the contribution of the small Turkish population that also lived on the island of whom one rose up to be a Sadrazam (equivalent of prime minister of the Ottoman Empire), Ibrahim Edhem Sakızlı.
Concepts that lead to unification are my preference. In any case when one delves deeper into these subjects and research is based on ‘religious identity’, mismatches with genealogy appear. Venice occupied Chios in 1694 and retained it for a short time. When it was recaptured by the Ottomans many Catholic families to avoid imprisonment switched to the Orthodox (Rum) faith. There are many examples of dual Christian faith families such as the Calvocoressi, Grimaldi, Damala, Baltazzi, Negroponte and Salvago. The Mavrocordato (or their allied branch Mavrogordato) that are related to the Baltazzis, may also be related to the ancient family of Quadratos. According to Philip Argenti in his Libro d’Oro, the reason why the signatory for the Ottoman side of the Carlovitz (1699) agreement, the Phanariot Bey Alexandre Mavrocordato signed himself as Maurocordato may possibly be to highlight his family’s link with the Quadrotos. If this is true this Pergamon/Roman – Byzantine/Chian family played an important political role through 19 centuries, covering 2 kingdoms and 2 empires. Of course without documentary proof this is mere speculation.
There are interesting impressions penned by travellers to Istanbul and Izmir, from Italy, France, England, Germany and other Europeans, however there are areas where their observations are incorrect, especially when it comes to the ‘Levantines’. It is not easy to understand such complex identities in about a month’s residence. As I mentioned in my ‘Galata’ article, in the harbour area there was a lingua franca spoken understood by the locals, impenetrable to the travellers. However what they couldn’t and didn’t want to understand wasn’t limited to the language. The moral nature of Galata that they criticised wasn’t any worse than any other port in the world. The free and easy nature of life in Pera wasn’t over and above that of a cosmopolitan centre elsewhere. Philip Mansell, an author who I admire, in his ‘Constantinople: city of desire’ work stated that it was Barones Maria Vetsera who brought the license of Pera to the Palaces of Vienna. My cousin Mary10 who was the grand-daughter of the famous banker Theodore Baltazzi,9 from the age 17 till in 1889 when she committed suicide together with archduke Rudolf, wasn’t allowed to leave home alone11. Court gossip did not carry much honour.
I would like to mention some of the pertinent observations of Edmondo de Amicis of Istanbul12 “While the Italian colony is one of the most numerous of the city, it is not one of the wealthiest. Amongst them were some who were wealthy, but many who were poor and particularly unemployed labourers from Southern Italy. The Press reported most of the pauper-houses13 from this colony”.
And I didn’t want to finish this piece without paying homage to them.
Alessandro Baltazzi 2006
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[1] Evangelino Baltazzi (1748-1809) married Vierou Mavrogordato of Chios and lived in Bornova (Izmir), his son Emanuele Baltazzi (1790?-1855) married Caterina Petrocochino again of Chios, settled in Istanbul and the house he built in Beyoğlu (Pera) marks the first official approval to a foreigner to build. When Venice fell Emanuele became a citizen of Austria.
[2] The Galata bankers Emanuele Baltazzi and Jacques Alleon, with a secret agreement with the Sublime Porte (the Sultan) in 1843 were able to maintain a fixed rate of exchange for the currency (£1 = 110 Kuruş). This policy was successful till 1849 and as a result of that the first official bank of the Ottoman Empire was founded - Istanbul (Dersaadet) Bank - Banque de Constantinople. In 1854 the Şirket-i Hayriye, the first Ottoman Company was founded to convey passengers between the two shores of the Bosphorus, and Emanuel Baltazzi was responsible for the importation of the ferries from England and because he provided his services for no profit, the Sultan donated 10 of the firm’s shares to him.
[3] Sebastiana Lagona, Kyme d’Eolide (Arti Grafiche Le Cimiere – Catania)]
[4] Aristide Bey (1831-1887), son of Emanuele, together with the Ottoman Bank Camondo, Zarifi and other Galata Bankers, established the Societe Generale Bank in 1864, and also held high positions of office such as mayor of Büyükdere, general director of the Forestry department, and finance vice minister. He was honoured with a Mecidiye decoration and with the Legion D’Honneur. While Aristide Baltazzi Bey was the chairman of Societe Generale, the Italian national Salomon Fernandez was the director general.
[5] Prof. Haydar Kazgan, Osmanlı’dan Cumhuriyet’e Türk Bankacılık Tarihi [The history of Banking from the Ottoman era till the Republic]
[6] Rinaldo Marmara, Chio
[7] Mihail Sturdza, Dictionnaire des grandes familles de Grece, d’Albanie et de Constantinople [Compendium of the great families of Greece, Albania and Constantinople]
[8] Mihail Sturdza, Dictionnaire des grandes familles de Grece, d’Albanie et de Constantinople
[9] Teodoro Baltazzi (1798-1860) together with his brother Emanuele who lived in the yali neighbouring the Italian Embasssy residence in Tarabya (Villa Tarabya) were amongst the forefront of Galata bankers. They had partners in financial centres such as Vienna, London and Marseilles. Teodoro’s wife was the English Elisabeth Sarell (1823-1863). He was bestowed the Austrian knight’s decoration. Teodoro and Elisabeth had 10 children. Their daughter Elena (1847-1925) married in Istanbul the Austrian diplomat Baron Albin Vetsera (1825-1887) in 1864. Since their parents had died Albin Vetsera moved to Austria all of Teodoro and Elisa’s children who were under the guardianship of his wife.
[10] Mary von Vetsera was the daughter of Baron Albin Vetsera and Elena Baltazzi. She was born 19th March 1871 in Vienna and died in Mayerling on 30th January 1889. Officially her cause of death was suicide, but the actual truth is still not certain and this has led to new speculations till today reflected in books and films produced.
[11] Elena Vetsera – Mayerling (Tr. Itl. Silvana Tessili) Edizione Studio Tesi, 1992
[12] Edmondo de Amicis – Translation Prof. Beynun Akyavaş, Constantinopoli – Istanbul, 1874
[13] Pauper house: a few