Italian immigration to Costa Rica (Eighth Part)

Abstract

A new century marks a rupture and brings dreams of something better, which are usually not fulfilled in their fullness; this hopeful spirit may have been, among many other explanations, the psychological motivation for intensified migration flows from Italy to Costa Rica in the first decade of the 20th century; Moreover, this motivation must be framed in the broader spectrum of the quantitative indices of Italian emigration. Indeed, the period between 1901 and 1915 saw the migration exodus become almost a mass escape; more than a third of hundred-year-old Italian expatriations (1876-1976) took place in those fifteen years. However, it has been noted that for Latin America there was a decrease from the previous period, with emigrations to the United States prevailing [Favero and Tassello (2) pp. 25-29]; on the other hand, the latter statement does not apply to all Italian regions, so it will be later in the case of Morano Calabro, in the province of Cosenza. This general intensification of emigrory was answered by the Italian State, which in 1901 enacted an organic law of a social nature towards the migrant, supported by the technical coordination of the Commissariato dell'Emigrazione [Sacchetti (10) p. 258]. The new legislation was also communicated to Costa Rica and, therefore, in 1902 the Minister of Foreign Affairs of Costa Rica received through Guatemala the following communication.