Page 398 - Lanzarotto Malocello from Italy to the Canary Islands

398 from Italy to the Canary Islands

Desimoni, as if to imply that Canale, whom we mentioned in the chapter
on Italian sources, had failed to notice that document.
Likely, Canale did not cite this document of 1352 because he had come
to the same conclusion as Desimoni’s: it had to be another Malocello, not
the one of his writings.
The document in question states that, in the year 1352, a Lanzarotto
Malocello, son of the deceased Argone Malocello, was declared to be older
than fifteen, but placed under the guardianship of Pietro Malocello.
Desimoni figures that this Lanzarotto, being little more than fifteen in
1352, was too young to be the discoverer of the island that took his name.
Desimoni ventures to make two hypotheses. The first is that this second
Lanzarotto is identifiable with the Lanzarotto who died in Famagusta in
1372, during some serious unrest occurred between the Genoese and the
Venetians; this would make sense, as in 1372 the discoverer of the Canary
Islands would have been too old to have the strength to physically collide
with the Venetians.
The second conjecture is that he was a descendant of our Lanzarotto;
this is also likely, as naming a newborn after important ancestors has
always been the custom of Italian families. This would mean that Argone
Malocello had meant to honour the illustrious discoverer of islands by
naming his son after him.

* * *

In this author’s family library, a curious book was found that had been
sitting there for over half a century; it is therefore impossible to know
which of our ancestors bought it. The fact is that the booklet is titled
Lanzerotto Malocello and was written by the famous Italian novelist
Umberto Gozzano; it is therefore just fiction, not a scientific work.
The volume, sized 12x17 cm, with blue cloth binding, runs for about
172 pages, the last of which bears the imprint “Agliè Canavese 12/2/43”
as the date of writing and the subsequent words “Finito di stampare il 3
rd
luglio 1943 in Milano” (Finished printing on 3 July 1943 in Milan) by the
so-named “Casa Editrice O. Zucchi società anonima, Via Cesare Battisti,
8 Milano”.
This little “cloak and dagger” book describes Malocello’s life as
adventurous and daring since a very young age; he then grows into an adult