Pietro Cesare Alberti

Pietro Cesare Alberti (1608–1655) — later Peter Caesar Alburtus — was a Venetian immigrant to the Dutch colony of New Amsterdam, commonly regarded as the first Italian American settler at least in what is now New York State.

[citation needed] Pietro's paternal relatives may have included the famed Italian polymath and statesman Leon Battista Alberti.

[citation needed] During the Thirty Years' War troops from the Netherlands were stationed in Malamocco, a small hamlet on the island of the Lido of Venice.

[citation needed] Because the Albertis' power was derived from the success of Venetian traders, Pietro decided at the age of 27 to seek a new life in the New World.

Indeed, nearly every American bearing the surnames Burtis and Alburtis can trace their ancestry back to Pietro Cesare Alberti.

The church of Santa Maria della Salute , begun in 1631, was constructed as a votive offering following the end of the Italian plague of 1629–31 .
Dutch map (c. 1639) showing Manhattan and the surrounding area. (North is right on this map)