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| The
heritage of two families |
In
the early 1900s, it was Pascual
Santoni Vivoni who inhabited Maison Casanova. Pascual
was another Corsican immigrant who had settled in the
Dominican Republic where he also prospered in the sugar
cane industry. He was Pierre Toussaint’s nephew,
as well as husband of one of Pierre’s granddaughters,
Sofia Vivoni. His long courtship of Sofia is beautifully
recorded in hundreds of love letters, which are still
kept at the house.
Pascual lived in Casanova with his family for almost two
decades, but fled Corsica at the outset of World War II.
At present, Pascual and Sofia's two sons,
Pascal and Jean, who still live in the Dominican
Republic with their families, own the house. However,
each year Pascal Santoni and his wife Elvira escape the
scorching Caribbean heat, and come to take refuge in a
house full of memories.
N.B. Historical data extracted from "Afrancesamiento
en Puerto Rico", 1999, Silvia Alvarez Curbelo and
Enrique Vivoni Farage, published by Archivo de Arquitectura
y Construcción de la Universidad de Puerto Rico
(San Juan).
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