Italians

Categories / Population/Ethnic Groups
ITALIANS, an ethnic community forming a part of the St. Petersburg population. The Italian language belongs to the Romance group of Indo-European languages. Believers are Catholic. The Italians have always been a small group of several hundred people and settled in dispersed order. The name of Italyanskaya Street originated not from the Italian settlement, but from the Italian Palace that existed in the first half of the 18th century on the place of Russian National Library's building (36 Fontanka River Embankment). Immigrants from Italy were engaged mainly in jobs connected with architecture, music, painting, and theatre. In 18th-19th centuries architects D. Trezzini (Italian Swiss), B. Rastrelli, A. Rinaldi, G. Quarenghi, C.I. Rossi, painter F.A .Bruni, composer C.A. Cavos, court conductor F. Araya and other Italians worked in St. Petersburg. From the 1730s to 1914 in St. Petersburg the Italian Opera functioned. The Italians mainly went to the Catholic Church of St. Catherine (32-34 Nevsky Prospect). Burials were held at the cemeteries of different confessions (Smolenskoe and Volkovskoe cemeteries), since 1856 - at Vyborgskoe Roman-Catholic Cemetery. After October 1917, almost all the Italians returned to Italy.

Reference: Юхнева Н. В. Этнический состав и этносоциальная структура населения Петербурга, вторая половина XIX - нач. XX в.: Статистич. анализ. Л., 1984.

A. Y. Chistyakov Araya Francesco
Bruni Fedor (Fidelis) Antonovich
Cavos Caterino Albertovich
Quarenghi Giacomo
Rastrelli Bartolomeo Carlo de
Rinaldi Antonio
Rossi Carl Ivanovich (Carlo Giovanni)
Trezzini Domenico
Fontanka River Embankment/Saint Petersburg, city, house 36
Nevsky prospect/Saint Petersburg, city, house 34
Nevsky prospect/Saint Petersburg, city, house 32
Юхнева Н. В. Этнический состав и этносоциальная структура населения Петербурга, вторая половина XIX - нач. XX в.: Стат. анализ. Л., 1984 Russian National Library