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The family of Giovanni Giuseppe Avanzi emigrated to Argentina in the 1890s. He first sailed from Genoa on the Aquila (pictured below) and arrived in Buenos Aires on the 16th of April 1890. He went back and forth between Italy and Argentina. He was described as a shoemaker originally but later was termed a mechanic. Later the rest of the family joined him.
Around 1900, the family were in La Plata in the province of Buenos Aires.
He established an iron foundry business in 1910, which became renowned for producing the ornate elevator cages and housings that were popular in the Belle Epoque apartment buildings in the French style that were proliferating in Buenos Aires.
The firm, Juan Avanzi e Hijos, were founding members of the Camara Argentina de Ascensores ( Argentine Chamber of Elevator Manufacturers).
Even into the 1950s, Victorio Avanzi (the eldest son) was president of the Chamber and his brother, Atilio, was still involved.
A history of the firm published in the late 1940s can be found here. Two of the major jobs cited are the iconic Teatro Gran Rex and the Consejo Deliberante. Interestingly it says that some 75% of constructions involving elevator installation in the capital involved Avanzi input in one form or another.
Avanzi_ascensores.pdfThe family became wealthy on the back of this business. A sign of this is their elaborate mausoleum (boveda) in the Flores cemetery.
Some of these children had been born in Italy, one was supposedly born on the trip over and several were born in Argentina. In 1900, Maria Ana (know as Ita Mari) was born in the city of La Plata. She went on the marry Julian Martin Sueldo, a customs agent (despachante de aduana) in the early 1920s.
They went on the have three children, the eldest of them (Jorge) died at the age of nine in a shooting accident. The son, Martin, went on to work as a property administrator for the Nuevo Banco Italiano (later becoming Banco de Credito Argentino). He married Aida Elsa Figueroa in 1965 and they had two children, Susana (wife of this site's author) and Cecilia.
The daughter of Julian and Maria was Susana, born in 1934. She went on to marry a captain in the Argentine navy (in the submarine branch) by the name of Augusto Mazzoni. They had three children.
The surname - Avanzi
Variations
Avanzo, D'avanzo, Davanzo, Avanzetti, Vanzi, Vanzo, Vanz, Vanzetti and Vanzini.
Spread
The surname occurs all over the Italian peninsula with branches in Lombardia, Veneto and Emilia Romagna.
Etymology
Avanzi come "avanti", si tratta di un nome augurale, comune nell-ultimo medioevo, come "Acquisto", Quadagno", "Vantaggio", ecc. riferato a un filgio desiderato. In certo casi deriva da "Dio[ti}avanzi" che significava "Dio avanti a te" che traccia il tuo cammino o che ti faccia crescere bene. Diotavanzi è un cognome tipico dei trovatelli, bambini abbandonati presso i conventi.
The Sueldo Family
The Sueldo Family
The
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