Domenico Colombo
Encyclopedia
Domenico Colombo (1418–1496) was the father of the Christopher Columbus
Christopher Columbus
Christopher Columbus was an explorer, colonizer, and navigator, born in the Republic of Genoa, in northwestern Italy. Under the auspices of the Catholic Monarchs of Spain, he completed four voyages across the Atlantic Ocean that led to general European awareness of the American continents in the...

 and Bartholomew Columbus. He was also a weaver.

He was born in 1418. He had 3 brothers, Franceschino, Giacomo and Bertino. His father, Giovanni Colombo, had apprenticed his son, Domenico, to the loom at age 11. Domenico, a third-generation master of his craft in Genoa, Italy, was also a shopkeeper. His secure, respectable position in the lower middle class did not, however, guarantee his having a firm work ethic. Despite, or because of, having fingers in several problems, he was a poor provider and a worse credit risk, yet a pleasant, well-liked fellow withal.

In the boisterous, enterprising spirit of Genoa, he worked as a cheese maker, tavern keeper, and dealer in wool and wine. He married Susanna Fontanarossa
Susanna Fontanarossa
Susanna Fontanarossa was the mother of Cristoforo Colombo, a Genoese wool weaver commonly believed to have been Christopher Columbus's mother she worked as a stay at home mother to her sons and always dreamed of a daughter.Almost nothing is known about her...

, the papers attest. Their firstborn was Cristoforo, in 1451; later came Giovanni Pellegrino, Bartolomeo, Giacomo, and daughter Bianchinetta. When he was found in financial difficulty, he was helped economically from Christopher. Forsaking the loom, two of his sons-Bartholomew and Christopher-went to sea. If Domenico had, however, been prosperous, Christopher might have spent his entire life at a loom.

He lived in a house to the Plan of Sant'Andrea. In the Straight Alley, in the quarter of Ponticello, neighbor to the Door of Sant' Andrea, call also Soprana Door. In this house, Domenico died in 1496.
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