Ayrton Senna, Tuscan origins unveiled

The origins of Ayrton Senna

Ayrton Senna had Italian, and more specifically Tuscan, origins.

This was proudly claimed to La Nazione by the La Porcari che Vogliamo Group, through the mouth of councilman Massimo della Nina, according to whom the Brazilian driver’s grandmother was born in Brazil to emigrant parents from the city in the province of Lucca.

“About three months ago,” he explained, “I was informed by a friend that the online encyclopedia Wikipedia reported among the biographical notes of the late multiple Formula 1 world champion, the fact that the great-grandparents on the maternal side, were of Porcari origin. With the ‘help of my father, Giampiero Della Nina, an appreciated connoisseur of local history, we began to reconstruct the Italian side of the Senna family tree. The research shows that one Raffaele Di Santoro, born in Porcari in 1862, emigrated to Brazil in 1892 where he married Maria Servilia Di Santoro, also born in Porcari, in 1875. From their union was born in 1909 Mrs. Marcelina Di Santoro, that is, Ayrton’s maternal grandmother.”

“You can imagine,” Della Nina added, “our satisfaction, but also great excitement, when all the pieces of the mosaic finally fit together. We therefore thought it right to proceed to inform the whole country of our resounding discovery. Through a council motion, we also asked for the start of the administrative process of a number of initiatives that, given the celebrity of the personage, we felt were necessary. The naming of an important public work, the granting of honorary citizenship post mortem, the initiation of procedures for the twinning of our country with Sao Paulo in Brazil where Ayrton was born in 1960 and also with Siculiana, in the province of Agrigento, from where the other Italian great-grandmother came. Even today almost 30 years after his untimely death following a racing accident at Imola, Ayrton is a testimonial of values that are very much felt by our people. His passion for life, commitment to his profession and sport, fairness and faith make him an example for the new generations as well.”