Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
between the suburb and the central city and
had a strong impact on La Boca's development.
La Boca was doomed to small time status, how-
ever, so long as the harbor was capable of dock-
ing only small vessels. In 1883 this minus was
turned into a plus when a local engineer
devised a plan for dredging the river and build-
ing a canal that could handle large overseas
vessels. The first transatlantic steamer to dock
there the following year was, appropriately
enough, the
Italia
. By 1885 scores of Genovese
had arrived with their families in tow. They
liked the area and ships like the
Galileo
, over-
flowing with immigrants, kept on coming.
Edmundo de Amicis, a writer of note, was one of
these immigrants. In one novel he refers to La
Boca as “a small district somewhat Genovese in
nature.” This reference was certainly true in
Amicis' day, when over one million Italians pop-
ulated the district.
They gave the area its unique look. The men
worked building the warehouses, the docks and
the bridges we see today. They came with
empty pockets, and lived in ramshackle lean-
tos constructed from odds and ends left over
from community projects. The houses were
built on piles to protect them from floods, which
occurred frequently. The government allowed
them to keep whatever paint was left over as
well. Often the paint was only enough to cover
one wall of the house, so another color was used
to paint the doors and still another for the win-
