European immigration and the origins of the industry in Uruguay: Antonio Marexiano's footwear factory

Abstract

"Antonio Marexiano", in "El Industrial Uruguayo", No. 79, March 12, 1905.

"He was born in Borghetto, Santo Spirito, small town in the province of Genoa, in 1836, and came to Montevideo in his early youth, probably dragged by the wave of immigration that followed the termination of the Great War and that, in the lapse of time from 1852 to 1860 he contributed to raise the population of the Republic from 131,969 to 223,238 inhabitants, bringing, as his only but valuable capital, laboriousness, spirit of economy, true Genoese perseverance and his trade as a shoemaker, and with those weapons he undertook the conquest of Porvenir, used immediately in one of the largest shoe stores in existence, then in Montevido, and precisely in that of the widow of Calzada.
The savings, made during his stay in that house, allowed him, some time later, to settle with a small workshop, which was growing little by little, normally, without sudden jumps and without regressions, despite the industrial and conomic crises for which The Republic has grown, growing as a lush plant, until it transpired in the current powerful factory, the oak tree of our manufacturing flora. (...) Once firmly established his business on the basis of a good clientele, Mr. Marexiano began to expand it, first associating Mr. Riva and then his brothers Don José and Don Francisco Marexiano, who had also come to the Uruguay and at that time, they were working in the same branch in the Villa de la Unión ... "