258 COLUMBIAN HISTORICAL EXPOSITION AT MADRID. 



about the date of his birth; and Columbus, in his will, says, &quot; I was 

 born in Genoa.&quot; In a subsequent paragraph of the same document he 

 writes, &quot; I came from there and there was I born.&quot; 



One of the most interesting of the pictures was a water-color sketch 

 by Miss Bertha E. Perrie, of Washington, D. 0., of the house at 

 Quinto where the father and mother of Columbus lived and where they 

 were married. The grandfather of Columbus lived at Terrarossa, a 

 hamlet about 20 miles northeast of Genoa, and there his father was born. 

 Some time between 1430 and 1445 he moved to Quinto al Mar, a little 

 place on the coast 4 miles east of Genoa. The house in which he dwelt 

 is still standing in the Via dei Colombo, No. 8, owned by Mr. Giuseppe 

 Piaggio, and occupied by several peasant families. Here Domenico, 

 the father of Christopher, was married to Susanna Fontanarossa, who 

 came from Quezzi, and belonged to a race of weavers. About 1446 he 

 moved into the city of Genoa, where he purchased a residence, and in 

 that year qualified as a citizen. In 1471 Domenico Columbus went to 

 Savoua, where his wife died. About 1484 he returned to Genoa to 

 reside with his daughter until his death, at an advanced age, in 1499 

 or 1500. He lived to see the triumph and enjoy the fame of his son, and 

 it is believed that Christopher visited him after the first voyage. 

 There is, in the municipal archives at Savona, a document witnessed 

 by Columbus in 1472. On August 26, 1472, he indorsed a note for his 

 father, and on August 7, 1473, signed a deed relinquishing all claims to 

 the house in Genoa. 



A series of plans in eight parts of the house at Genoa in which 

 Columbus is said to have been born were also shown. The learned 

 antiquarian, Marcello Staglieno, of Genoa, identified the Yico dritto 

 del Ponticello, No. 37, as the house in which Dominico Columbus lived 

 during the younger years of Christopher s life, and it is probable, 

 although not certain, that the latter was born there. The discovery of 

 the ownership was made by tracing back the title to the property. 

 Through the efforts of Oavaliere Giuseppe Baldi $6,300 was raised in 

 June, 1887, the property was purchased, and a tablet was placed over 

 the door, with the Latin inscription which in English reads: &quot;No 

 house better deserves an inscription. This is the paternal home of 

 Christopher Columbus, where he passed his childhood and youth.&quot; 

 The house was, at that time, just outside of the city walls of Genoa, by 

 the gate of St. Andrew. 



Some writers argue that the republic instead of the city of Genoa was 

 meant by Columbus when he said that he was born there, which will 

 admit to the controversy the claims of several suburban towns in which 

 his family at one time resided. In the little village of Cogoleto, about 15 

 miles from Genoa, an ancient structure is pointed out as the birthplace 

 of Columbus which bears the following pretentious inscription : &quot;Trav 

 eler, stop at this place. It was here that Columbus, the greatest man 

 in the Avorld, first saw the light; here in this humble house! There 

 was one world: this man spoke and there were two.&quot; 



