editor philanthropist publisher
He was born on January 4, 1850, in Bagni di San Giuliano, near Pisa, doubtless inherited from his father, Giulio, who had achieved success as a country landowner, that executive and managerial ability which enabled him to be successful in his business enterprises. From his mother, Rosa Pannocchia, a native of Santa Maria del Giudice, near Lucca, came his love of music and sculpture.
He came to America in 1872, settled in New York City, and in 1880 established, in the old Herald Building, Il Progresso, the first Italian daily in the United States. Its success was so remarkable that new quarters had to be secured at 42 Duane St. Continued success made another change necessary, this time to a building owned by the paper itself at 42 Elm St. Subscribers were in a way partners of Barsotti in that they aided him in erecting statues to famous Italians: Giovanni da Verrazano in Battery Park, Giuseppe Garibaldi in Washington Square, Christopher Columbus occupying the pivotal position in Columbus Circle at Fifty-ninth St. and Eighth Avenue, Dante at Broadway and Sixty-third St. , and Giuseppe Verdi at Broadway and Seventy-third St. His subscribers also aided him in contributing to the relief of suffering in Italy. In recognition of service in this field Barsotti was decorated by the King of Italy with the Cross of Grand Officer of the Crown of Italy. In his later years he contributed $250, 000 toward a tunnel through that mountain, separating Pisa from Lucca, which has been famous ever since Dante's line - "Per che i Pisan veder Lucca non ponno. " The woman who shared in these enterprises as a life partner was Margaret Heist of Frankfort, Germany, whom Barsotti married in 1875. His last years were spent, not in New York City, but in the little New Jersey town of Coytesville, on the Palisades across the Hudson.
In 1875 he married Margaret Heist of Frankfort, Germany.
