Domenico "Domingo" Ghirardelli
Domenico Ghirardelli was born in 1817. Domenico grew up in Italy until the age of 20, at which point, in 1837, due to political instability in his native city of Genoa, he decided to migrate. Domenico chose to emigrate to Lima, where he knew there was a large number of Italian immigrants. There, he changed his name to “Domingo” in hopes of Hispanicizing himself. This point is discussed in a biography written by Sidney Lawrence, a relative of Domenico Ghirardelli. Lawrence writes that Domenico “Hispanicized his first name to Domingo (so he could fit in better as a local merchant)” (1). After moving to Lima, however, he heard from a friend about the booming gold rush in Northern California and decided to move to San Francisco. At the time of his arrival, Domenico knew very little English and settled within an Italian-Hispanic enclave in San Francisco. It was there that, on June 18, 1852, Domenico Ghirardelli opened his eponymous chocolate company. A photo of the original factory is shown below ("Ghirardelli Chocolate Factory"). Domenico prided himself on his multicultural employees and business partners and quickly became a crucial member of inclusive committees in San Francisco at the time. This is detailed in his biography where Lawrence writes:
"Although he employed a small, all-Italian workforce and favored them with loans, his business partners were mostly non-Italians: Cox (Anglo), Petar (Swiss), and Danzel (French-Alsatian). He served in the ‘everyone-welcome’ Vigilance Committee of 1856 and joined the community-conscious, mostly native English-speaking Society of California Pioneers in 1865" (3).
Domenico was also multilingual due to his time spent abroad in Peru and Uruguay, which proved helpful in strengthening ties between the Italian immigrant population and the more prominent and established French immigrant population, which controlled 80 or more of the city's businesses at the start of 1850. Domenico, now a prominent businessman in San Francisco, tried to stay out of politics; however, this seemed to be completely disregarded when he employed a young man by the name of Angelo Mangini. Mangini was also an Italian immigrant, but he left Italy under different circumstances than Domenico. Mangini was a member of a popular anti-monarchist movement called the Young Italy, founded by Mazzini in Italy. After his affiliation was discovered, he was sentenced to death. He luckily escaped execution by fleeing the country and soon found himself in San Francisco. Mangini played a large role in the Ghirardelli business and ended up marrying Domenico’s daughter. Domenico’s employment of Mangini is a testament to his unwavering faith in fellow Italian immigrants facing hardships and craving stability. Today, Ghirardelli’s legacy is alive in his wildly popular and successful chocolate company, with its iconic and easily recognizable chocolate squares stocked on shelves all around the country.
