Our History

A Flight to Economic Opportunity

Terrible socioeconomic conditions in southern Italy, the predominant region from which San Antonio’s Italian immigrants came, propelled them here as part of a massive wave of immigrants from southern and eastern Europe between 1880 and 1930. During that time it is estimated that approximately four and a half million Italians entered the United States.

Near the end of the nineteenth century, when San Antonio’s population was just 37,673 a small group of Italians arrived in the Alamo City. The majority of them were immigrants so for their mutual benefit they united to form a fraternal organization which would assist the Italian families in adapting to a new language and new way of life.

Little did they know that organization would still stand as the longest continuous running Italian organization in the United States.

The Founding Years

The “Societa’ Italiana Cristoforo Colombo” was chartered under the laws of Texas on the 14th of May 1890. The Society has remained steadfast in our mission to perpetuate Italian culture, family values, and heritage in San Antonio, Texas ever since.

They named the society after Cristoforo Colombo, an Italian explorer from the Republic of Genoa who completed four voyages across the Atlantic Ocean. Columbus was sponsored by the Catholic Monarchs of Spain, opening the way for the widespread European exploration and European colonization of the Americas. His expeditions were the first known European contact with the Caribbean and Central and South America.

Original Signors & First Meetings

Signers of the application for the Charter (dated April 30 1890) were Carlo A. Solaro, Anthony Battaglia, Marco Bargna and Giacinto Garroni with J. Burda and Augusto Battaglia signing as witnesses. The County Clerk of Bexar County, Texas, signed and issued the Charter on May 13th, 1890

The first meeting of the newly formed Society was held in the historic old Veramendi Building at the corner of Main Avenue and Veramendi Street. Its second location was on the second floor of a building occupied by the San Antonio Meat Company, but the officers soon began to look for another location and for a short time, they relocated to the corner of West Commerce and South Presa streets.

If You Build It, They Will Come

In 1926, at the request of the City’s Italian Catholics, Diocesan officials invited the Reverend Saverio Vecchio to preach a mission. As a result, the congregation of San Francesco Di Paola was organized.

In 1927, on land donated to the Society by Louis Lorelli Guido, the Italian community built its Church of San Francesco di Paola. Designed by Richar Vanderstratten and built by Luigi L. Guido and Vincenzo Falbo, this Romanesque structure with decorative stone detailing, round-arched stained glass windows, and spire was dedicated on May 1, 1927, by Archibishop A.J. Drossaerts and recorded as a Texas Historic Landmark in 1992.

St. Francis of Paola is often depicted with a noble shield above his head or chest, on which the inscription "Charitas" can be read. According to tradition, while the Saint is absorbed in the highest contemplation, the Archangel Michael appears before him, with a shield in his hands that looks like a shining sun and in the center of it a single word is written in gold characters: CHARITAS. The Angel hands him the shield and recommends that he make it the coat of arms of his order: "Francisce, haec erunt insignia tui Ordinis".

Embodying the defining characteristic (Charitas) of San Francesco Di Paola’s legacy, members of the Society played leadership roles in the planning, funding and building of the Church. To this day, charity remains a steadfast focus of the Italian Society.

The Italian Hall & The Path Forward

In the years that followed, the Italian Society built its permanent home, the Italian Hall, just steps away from the Italian Church. Both the Hall and the Church face the Piazza Italia Park on Columbus Square. When the Society opened the building in 1928, it marked the first Italian Hall in the State of Texas. On October 12, 1957, the Society donated an Italian made statue of Christopher Columbus to the City of San Antonio. The statue resided in Columbus Park until 2020, but was later removed to deescalate rival protestors / counter-protestors.

The Italian Society rebukes the subjugation of all people and has taken concrete steps to position the organization to thrive in years to come. These include welcoming Spanish mass on Sundays, converting from a fraternal organization to a co-ed Society, electing our first female President, and replacing the Columbus statue with one of San Francesco Di Paola. Once dedicated on September 9th, 2023, the new San Francesco statue will be only the second religious statue on public land in the city.

Steadfast Mission, Unwavering Commitment

Since its founding, the Italian Society has remained steadfast in our mission to perpetuate Italian culture, family values, and heritage in San Antonio, Texas. This is accomplished through three key objectives laid out in our constitution:

1. Promote and conduct charitable, educational, religious, social welfare, and public relief work,

2. Promote social and intellectual dialogue among its members and their families.

3. And strengthen community relations.

As the San Antonio Italians have prospered, they have assumed positions of leadership in social, political and economic life in the city. True to form, the Society has extended its benevolent services to include the donation of an entire room at the Santa Rosa Children’s Hospital, the establishment of free Italian language classes opened to anyone in the San Antonio area interested in learning to speak Italian, providing shoes each year to children of St. Peter’s and St. Joseph’s Orphanage Home, support the Carmelite Day Care Center, and support many other projects and organizations.

Beside these contributions to the City and people of San Antonio, the Italian Society is noted for its members’ countless hours of hard work preparing the pasta and authentic homemade-Italian sauce for the annual spaghetti dinners throughout the year served at the Italian Hall.

After more than a century, members of the Italian Society continue to be proud of our heritage and equally proud to be citizens of the United States and the City of San Antonio. For more information, please visit the Italian section at the Institute of Texan Cultures to view numerous artifacts on permanent display.