Research Question

Identify the parents of Evaristo Dante Pezzotti Salterucci (b. 7 Apr 1885 Scalea, Cosenza, Calabria, Italy; d. 12 May 1929 La Vega, Dominican Republic), and document his marriage to Irene Dolores Tejada Guzmán (b. 7 Aug 1897 Salcedo, Hermanas Mirabal, DR) — date, place, and the parents named on the marriage record.

Sub-questions falling out of this:

• (a) What is the maiden surname of Evaristo Dante's mother? The GEDCOM gives him the compound Pezzotti Salterucci, implying mother's apellido = Salterucci, but she is unnamed.
• (b) Confirm Evaristo Dante's father is the Blas Antonio Pezzotti (1856 Lappano – 1903 Ciénaga, Magdalena, Colombia) shown in the imported tree, vs. an alternative homonym in Cosenza Province.
• (c) Establish how/when Evaristo Dante migrated from Scalea (Calabria) → DR (La Vega), and whether he passed through Colombia like his father.
• (d) Push back to Rosa Maria Lifrieri (b. 4 Apr 1817 Zumpano, Cosenza), confirming her as Blas Antonio's mother and naming her parents.

Status

open — initiated 2026-05-24. First Antenati session completed 2026-05-24 04:19 AST. Scalea 1885 dead end on Antenati; pivot to Lappano italiano-era registers + FamilySearch + direct comune request. See "Searches" + "Next steps" below.

What is known (working — all [unverified-from-Ancestry])

From gedcom/ancestry-import-2026-05-24.ged (S-004), pending source verification:

• Evaristo Dante Pezzotti Salterucci: b. 7 Apr 1885 Scalea, Cosenza, Calabria, Italy; d. 12 May 1929 La Vega, DR
• Spouse: Irene Dolores Tejada Guzmán (b. 7 Aug 1897 Salcedo; d. 1979 La Vega) — daughter of Cornelio Cipriano Tejada Brache (b. 1865 Los Tocones, Jayabo, Salcedo; d. 1946 DR) + Juana Francisca de las Mercedes Guzmán Velóz (b. 13 Aug 1876 Moca, Espaillat; d. 1935 Moca)
• 6 children born 1916 (Salcedo) – 1925 (La Vega): Blas Antonio, José Marino, Francisco Evaristo, Irene Consuelo, Reynaldo Caonabo, Linda Altagracia Eneida (all surnamed Pezzotti Tejada). First-born 1916 = marriage likely 1914–1916 in DR
• Evaristo's father (per Ancestry tree): Blas Antonio Pezzotti (1856 Lappano – 1903 Ciénaga, Magdalena, Colombia)
• Evaristo's father's mother: Rosa Maria Lifrieri (b. 4 Apr 1817 Zumpano, Cosenza)
• Evaristo's mother: NAME UNKNOWN in GEDCOM, only apellido Salterucci inferred from Evaristo's compound surname

What is needed

A primary Italian record naming both parents of Evaristo Dante Pezzotti Salterucci, born Scalea 7 Apr 1885 — civil birth registration (atto di nascita) is the primary instrument. Secondarily, the DR marriage record (Catholic acta de matrimonio for Evaristo × Irene Dolores in Salcedo or La Vega, ~1914-1916) which will name both parents on both sides.

Hypotheses

1. H1 (default, Ancestry-tree implied). Evaristo Dante Pezzotti Salterucci is the son of Blas Antonio Pezzotti (1856 Lappano) × an unnamed Salterucci-surnamed woman. They married before 1885; Evaristo was born in Scalea while the family was either resident there or transient. The father later migrated to Magdalena, Colombia, where he died in 1903.

   • Predicts: Civil birth record of Evaristo, Scalea 1885, will name both parents as Pezzotti and Salterucci (specific given names TBD).
   • Predicts: Marriage record of Blas Antonio × the Salterucci woman exists in Lappano, Zumpano, Scalea, or another Cosenza commune circa 1880–1884.
   • Predicts: Civil birth record of Blas Antonio in Lappano ~1856 names parents incl. mother Rosa Maria Lifrieri.

2. H2 (Ancestry-error alternative). Evaristo Dante is not the son of Blas Antonio (1856 Lappano) — the Ancestry hint linking them is a homonym confusion. Two Pezzotti men named Blas Antonio existed in 19th-c. Cosenza Province (the name combination Blas Antonio is unusual in Italian; "Blas/Biagio Antonio" Italian-form may be common). Real father is a different Pezzotti.

   • Predicts: Civil birth record of Evaristo, Scalea 1885, names a father with name not matching the Lappano-born Blas Antonio (~age 29 at Evaristo's birth, plausible).
   • Predicts: No marriage of Blas Antonio (Lappano 1856) × Salterucci woman is findable in Cosenza Province.

3. H3 (legitimacy / illegitimacy alternative). Evaristo Dante was born outside an officially registered marriage — civil record may name a single parent or include later legitimation marginalia (riconoscimento, legittimazione). The Salterucci apellido is the mother's; the father may be ambiguous or added later.

   • Predicts: Birth record has marginal annotations or unusual structure (single-parent acknowledgment, later legitimation).
   • Predicts: A subsequent marriage / legitimation entry in processetti exists.

4. H4 (migration via Colombia). Evaristo Dante did not arrive in DR directly from Italy. The family's known father-side death in Magdalena, Colombia (1903) suggests an Italy → Colombia commercial / family migration. Evaristo may have spent time in Colombia (Magdalena banana-and-coffee coast had a small Italian community) before continuing to DR by 1914.

   • Predicts: Colombian civil registry (Magdalena) shows residence / commercial activity 1885–1914 for an Evaristo Pezzotti.
   • Predicts: DR arrival via Puerto Plata or Santo Domingo from a Colombian port (Santa Marta or Barranquilla) rather than from Genoa / Naples.

Searches

New evidence acquired

None yet (no birth/marriage/death record retrieved). However the finding-aid evidence is itself useful:

• Antenati's Scalea collection ends at the Restaurazione (~1860). Either the post-unification 1865+ registers for Scalea (a) have not yet been digitized by Cineca for Antenati, (b) are held at a different Archivio (Tribunale di Paola? Comune di Scalea direct?), or (c) were lost in WWII or earlier (Scalea is on the Tyrrhenian coast and saw some war damage). The actual physical registers for Scalea 1885 still exist at the Comune di Scalea civil registry office under Italian law (mandatory 100-year retention of atti di nascita with continuous archival).

Conflicts

• Birth year of Evaristo Dante Pezzotti Salterucci. GEDCOM (S-004, Ancestry import) gives 7 Apr 1885 Scalea. Miguel reports verbally (2026-05-24): "he was born 1884 apparently." Source for the 1884 claim not yet captured — likely from family knowledge, a document Miguel has seen, or an alternative tree. Both candidate years need to be searched in any Scalea/Lappano nati register or Catholic bautismo lookup. Late-1884 or early-1885 birth (7 April-of-something) is consistent with delayed registration patterns common in 19th-c. Italian stato civile (a child born late one year sometimes registered in the next). Resolve via the actual atto di nascita.

Next steps — revised after first session (2026-05-24)

Lesson learned from session 1: Antenati does not server-render register year-ranges (Mirador JS-only). Direct programmatic curl scraping cannot enumerate which Registro N covers which years. Need an interactive Antenati browse (clicking each Registro and reading the title page) — that's a Miguel task or a Playwright crawler task.

Tier A — direct primary records to locate (in priority order)

1. ✗ Antenati → Scalea 1885 nati — DEAD END on Antenati. Scalea coverage on Antenati ends at the Restaurazione era (~1860). Pivot to (a) FamilySearch Italy Cosenza civil registration collection, (b) direct request to Ufficio dello Stato Civile, Comune di Scalea for estratto / copia integrale dell'atto di nascita of Evaristo Dante Pezzotti, 7 Apr 1885 (or 1884 — see below), (c) check FamilySearch microfilm catalog for separately filmed Scalea registers, (d) request via consultation at Archivio di Stato di Cosenza in-person.
2. Antenati interactive → Lappano italiano-era nati registers (Registro 58/59/60+ — ARKs: 35983235, 35983236, ...) — Miguel to open each, read the title page year-range, identify the register covering 1884–1885 (in case Evaristo was actually registered in Lappano not Scalea — testable hypothesis since his father Blas Antonio Sr. was Lappanese), and also 1856 (Blas Antonio Sr.'s probable birth year if claim holds).
3. Antenati interactive → Zumpano nati registers (Registro 7 or 8) — Rosa Maria Lifrieri b. 4 Apr 1817 should fall here. Restaurazione + late-Napoleonic transition.
4. Antenati interactive → Lappano / Scalea / Zumpano matrimoni 1880–1884 — for Blas Antonio Pezzotti × Salterucci-surname marriage; processetti attached to the marriage record would name parents-of-parents on both sides (instant gen-5 push).
5. FamilySearch Italy, Cosenza, Civil Registration (State Archive) — find the correct collection ID (the wiki referenced a 1654–1910 collection but did not give the slug). Search FamilySearch catalog for "Cosenza" with date 1880–1890 to find the post-unification holdings.
6. Diocesi di San Marco Argentano-Scalea — Catholic parish records for Scalea (parish San Nicola di Mira) covering 1884–1885 baptism. Parallel to civil record.

Tier B — DR-side records that name Italian parents

7. JCE La Vega Oficialía Civil → acta de defunción of Evaristo Dante Pezzotti, 12 May 1929. Names parents on certificate (including the unidentified Salterucci mother) and almost always names origin comune.
8. Parroquia (Catholic) La Vega or Salcedo → acta de matrimonio Evaristo Dante × Irene Dolores Tejada Guzmán, ~1914–1916. The single highest-yield DR record for this line: names both spouses' parents.
9. JCE Salcedo Oficialía Civil → acta de nacimiento of Blas Antonio Pezzotti Tejada, 10 Mar 1916 (the eldest child). Names both parents fully.

Tier C — adjacent evidence & cousin search

10. Listín Diario archive → search "Pezzotti" 1929 issues for obituary of Evaristo Dante (d. 12 May 1929).
11. AGN immigration files + Puerto Plata port records → arrival of Evaristo Dante in DR (likely 1900s–1914 window).
12. Living Italian-side cousin search — Facebook + Italian White Pages for Pezzotti, Lifrieri, Salterucci in Cosenza Province. Email Comune di Scalea / Lappano / Zumpano protocollo@ addresses with polite ricerca anagrafica request.
13. Centro León eMuseum → in-person browse of Federico Lithgow 193-photo collection (API rejected programmatic access).

Tier D — Colombian leg

14. Registraduría Nacional del Estado Civil, Magdalena, Colombia → death record Blas Antonio Pezzotti, Ciénaga, 13 Jun 1903 (if accepted as the same individual). Italian Sociedad Italiana de Beneficencia in Barranquilla/Santa Marta had member records.

Cross-references

• Person files: [[Pezzotti Salterucci, Evaristo Dante (b.1885)]], [[Pezzotti, Blas Antonio (b.1856 Lappano)]], [[Pezzotti Tejada, Blas Antonio (b.1916)]], [[Tejada Guzmán, Irene Dolores (b.1897)]], [[Lifrieri, Rosa Maria (b.1817)]]
• Family file: families/pezzotti-line.md
• Master citations: sources/citations.md
• Documentary destinations: Tier 1 — Cosenza/Calabria; Tier 2 — La Vega/Salcedo; Tier 3 — Ciénaga Magdalena Colombia