The arrival
to Puerto Plata of the Costa family
Bartholomew Columbus, brother
of Cristóbal Columbus, founded the city of Puerto Plata on 1496.
Something is necessary to
explain why a family of Vicenza, Italy, established in its territory,
moved to the Dominican Republic. The family Costa, formed by Don Aldo,
Doña Didi, its children Michele and Paolo, in 1970 looking for something
new arrived at this Caribbean island for different vacations. We were
enchanted of the blue and uncontaminated sea, luminous skies, and green
panoramas, rich of tropical vegetations, rivers with crystalline waters
and a constant temperature of 25 to 26 degrees Celsius. A red moon in few
minutes arrived at the dark sky and it left us speechless. After an exotic
summer, September arrived fast and we had to decide our future. The
selection was concordant, the country had bewitched us. We never forgot
our roots, we returned every year to Vicenza, our city of origin. Italy is
a country with a known artistic patrimony anywhere in the world and the
artists have left expressions of their refined tastes and works of art in
each city and town. Nevertheless, the Dominican Republic is a young, warm,
hospitable, warm-hearted country, rich of natural beauty, with constant
climate, all this influenced our decision. My husband, Don Aldo Costa, in
Italy evolved in the tourist area and in Puerto Plata took advantage of
his experience to initiate a hotel activity, first organizing a tourism
school to the human resources for the hotel industry.
In 1971 opened its doors the
greatest hotel of those times: Montemar Hotel. It was obtained that the
great travel agencies visited the North Coast and arrived the first groups
from Canadian, Swiss, Austrian and Italian. The Boheme cruise ship arrived
from Miami with his first tourists. The movement of cruises had great
results: nine boats a week with the joint effort and enthusiasm of a small
group of puertoplateños and foreigners.
The international airport
Gregorio Luperón of Puerto Plata (POP) was inaugurated in 1980. Before the
tourists arrived via Santo Domingo and after four or five hours they
arrived at Puerto Plata being annoyed and tired. Still it was in
construction the Santiago-Puerto Plata road. Hard and difficult years for
the tourism, time of pioneers who now seem very distant. The little
paradise place sleeping on the feet of the mountain Isabel de Torres (800
meters of height) or the “little silver cup”, or the fiancée of the
Atlantic, as also it was called, Puerto Plata, little by little
transformed into an alive, full community of many foreign families with
cultures and different customs, always together living in a very
hospitable town of joy and generosity, always prepared for the celebration
to the merengue beat (Dominican typical music).
Puerto Plata is a city
characterized by its mansions of Victorian and neoclassic style. From
century XVI; example of it is the fortress San Felipe, typical Spanish
brick construction with towers for the guns and harbor defense. The
fortress served as infirmary during the North American occupation of 1916,
in recent years was a prison, at the moment is an historical museum.
In the park Independence
(better well-known as central park) the public square of octagonal plant
with Moorish arcs was constructed at the end of century XIX: it was the
most elegant of the time. In 1934 the Catholic Church with two twin towers
replacing a small one of wood was constructed. In 1999 diocese with the
guide of their first bishop was declared, monsignor Gregorio Nicanor Peña.
The central park is surrounded by important buildings: the church San
Felipe of Art-Deco influence, the club of commerce, constructed 1897 of
pure Victorian style, the city council of neoclassic style of the 1898-99,
the recreational club of ladies of the 1890, the San Jose pharmacy
destroyed completely by a fire and reconstructed in its totality
faithfully as the original one with its touch of "Gingerbread" of the
Victorian time. The reconstruction was in charge of the family Costa
between years 1999-2000. The tradition of the encounter of youths
underneath the gorgeous Carolinas (tropical trees with flowers of pink
pistils without petals) and music in the park of the municipal band
created an atmosphere of dream and legend. It was custom that the young
boys, while the band played, courted the adolescents elegant dressed
girls, which were taken care of, all the time under the scrutiny, although
at a distance, of their family.
The port lighthouse was erected
in 1879 by Robert Hill and son, with iron fused and brought from England
during the government of general Gregorio Luperón. It was recovered and
inaugurated again in 2002. The Masonic lodge “La Restauracion I”, building
constructed from 1902 to 1909 is one of most important of the town of
neoclassic style. In its interior, there is a stair in form of snail and
its splendid halls conserved in original state stand out almost untouched.
Puerto Plata is a tourist pole
with its cultural and commercial history, and offers a pleasant and warm
atmosphere with its Creole restaurants and of different nationalities. By
suggestion of my husband, the North Coast changed its name by the one
of “Costa de Ambar” by presidential decree, justified by the fact
that in the northern mountain range there are the most beautiful deposits
of amber in the Dominican
Republic. |
