Arturo Enrico Costantino

Arturo Enrico Costantino was born on July 27, 1897, in Lerici, Italy. The oldest surviving son of Countess Maria Luisa de Moraes Sarmento and her second husband, Rear Admiral Arturo Costantino, who was serving as Admiral of the Royal Navy in La Spezia, Italy. They were also the parents of a daughter called Baby and a younger son named Napoleone.

Arturo Enrico Costantino was a veteran who served in the submarine service in the Italian Royal Navy during World War I. He earned an academic degree in economics and would become a banker. On February 15, 1926, Arturo Enrico Costantino was married to Miss Ruth Teschner, daughter of Dr. Jacob Teschner and Goldine Straus Teschner of 134 East Sixty-first Street, New York, N.Y., at the Church of Santa Maria del Popolo, Rome, Italy. They would become the parents of Arturo Giovanni Costantino who born in New York on April 27, 1927 and Helen Elizabeth Costantino Fioratti who was born in New York circa March, 1930. They mostly made there home in Rome until, as war clouds darkened, and their son was being taught military drills with other youngsters carrying wooden guns, Mrs. Ruth T. Costantino moved back to New York with their children.

In 1929, Arturo Enrico Costantino entered the Instituto Nazionale per l'Esportazione in Rome as an expert regarding American trade relations. In 1932, he was sent to the United States to study and report on trade prospects in wine and spirits in connection with the then coming repeal of prohibition. In 1933, he was compelled under such office to take membership in the Fascist Party. In 1936, Arturo Enrico Costantino was transferred to the civil service and was appointeed chief of the North America relations section of the then "Ministero Seambi e Valute".

In 1937, due to his knowledge of the New York market, Arturo Enrico Costantino was sent back to the United States as the deputy high commissioner of the Italian Pavilion at the 1939-40 World's Fair, New York. He was popular during his residence In New York. Mayor La Guradia made him an honorary citizen of the city. In February 1941 he was recalled to Rome under a diplomatic pass. He was unable to leave because of the Pearl harbor attack and subsequent state of war.

In September of 1943 at the time of the surrender of the Italian Government, Arturo Enrico Costantino refused orders to follow the "Ministero Scambi e Valute" (Ministry of Foreign Exchange) under Nazi orders to Northern Italy and was threatened with reprisal. A certain General Kesserling of Germany condemned Arturo E. Costantino to pain of death. Due to this situation he was forced to stay hidden with other refugees in the cellar of a convent or villa outside of Rome under the North American Catholic Seminary and American Monsignor McKew, Secretariat of State, Vatican. They endured great hardship during this period before Rome was liberated. A certain Paul Mellone was also confined there and relayed this story to the author. Paul would later become a very close friend of the said Arturo's son, Arturo Giovanni Costantino.

Arturo Enrico Costantino died on Saturday, October 21, 1944, in Rome from a concussion suffered when, while riding a bicycle on Friday, he was struck by a British military truck. The office of Charles Poletti, in command of the Rome region for AMG, notified the widow, Ruth Teschner Costantino, who lived at 53 East Sixty-sixth Street, New York. Arturo Enrico Costantino was 47 years old. Their son, the late Arturo Giovanni Costantino, was taking the United States Navy training course at Princeton University. A daughter, Helen Elizabeth Costantino Fioratti, survives. It is noted that the late Arturo Enrico Costantino's widow and surviving children commonly styled the deceased to have been a Count. More accurately, the deceased's mother, Maria Luisa de Moares Sarmento, was the duaghter of the 2nd Viscount de Torre de Moncorvo, and she was the widow of a Count from her first marriage.

Arturo Enrico Costantino was favorably known in the "American colony" in Rome and at the Embassy of the United States of America, Rome. He was especially well known by Mr. Livingood, American commercial attache in Rome and by Mr. Hooper, commercial Connsellor in Rome. References: General Julius Holmes, American, then of London: Captain Santini, Chief Registration Office for auto vehicles, Via Tomacelli, Rome: Mr. Almerindo Portfolio, New York Finance Comptroller: Mr. Grover Whalen, New York: Walter E. Naumburg, 121 East 64 Street, New York: Miss Dorothy Straus, lawyer and activist in the Democratic Party, New York, 319 East 50 Street: Mr. Wendell P. Colton, 784 Park Avenue, New York: Dr. Rene Kaufman, M.D., 30 Central Park South, New York: Mr. Ciulli Ruggeri, Chase National Bank, 1 Via Romagna, Rome: Marchesa Barbi, 1 Plazza Galeno, Rome: Mr. Percy De Bosis, 66 Via Due Macelli, Rome.