Susanna Fontanarossa (Ligurian: Suzanna Fontann-arossa; 1435–1489) was the mother of navigator and explorer Christopher Columbus.
Susanna was born in the hillside village of Monticellu, on the then Genoese island of Corsica, to a wealthy Catholic family. She was the daughter of Giacomo "Giacometti" Fontanarossa.[1] Her family owned substantial real estate in Quezzi, a little village in the low-lying valley of Bisagno (part of the present-day city of Genoa).[2] She married Domenico Colombo in 1445[3] and bore him 5 children: Cristoforo, Bartolomeo, Giovanni, Giacomo, and a daughter named Bianchinetta.
Commemorative marble plaque to Suzanna Fontanarossa in the village of Fontanarossa. The inscription reads In questo borgo nacque Susanna Fontanarossa, madre di Cristoforo Colombo ("Susanna Fontanarossa, the mother of Christopher Columbus, was born in this village"). Erected 1958.
A notarised document of sale in the State Archives of Genoa contains the Latinate text Sozana, (quondam) de Jacobi de Fontana Rubea, uxor Dominici de Columbo de Ianua ac Christophorus et Pelegrinus filii eorum, which can be translated as "Susanna was (the daughter) of Giacomo from Fontanarossa of the Bisagno, wife of Domenico Columbus from Genoa, their sons are Cristoforo and Pellegrino."[4] The Val Bisagno[it] was a significant inland district in the ancient Republic of Genoa including the valley of the Bisagno. Thus she was described as 'Susanna from Fontanarossa' within the Val Bisagno, rather than Suzanna Fontarossa.
