'V. Fontana & Company: Setting the Foundation in Stone'
Victoria Anderson - Linkedin.com - March 6, 2021
In a town just south of San Francisco, California, resides a city unknown to many: Colma. Colma, also known as the “City of the Dead,” is home to 17 cemeteries that occupy 73% of the city; in other words, the dead outnumber the living 1,000 to one. This tiny, yet unique town is home to V. Fontana & Co., my family’s monument business that has been in existence for 100 years come this April. The business was established in 1921 by my great-grandfather, Valerio Fontana, who emigrated from Italy to the United States in hopes of finding masonry work—the skill and livelihood of his ancestors. Since Valerio’s death in 1961, the family business has been passed down two more generations. What makes V. Fontana & Co. truly unique is the fact that it represents one century of service our family has provided in the U.S, all of which can be traced back to when Valerio originally established the business in 1921.
V. Fontana & Co. is specifically recognized for its custom manufacturing of all types of granite and marble products. Blocks of granite and marble are imported from quarries all over the world where they are transformed into products in our factory to meet customers’ needs. Valerio set the standards high for the business immediately when it first opened, using only the finest quality materials that would literally stand the test of time. Over the past several decades, the business has diversified beyond monuments as the demand to incorporate granite and marble in commercial and residential design has skyrocketed. V. Fontana & Co. is the successful business it is today because of Valerio’s determination to overcome both geographical and cultural boundaries to become accustomed to the American culture and to achieve the “American Dream.”
It all began in 1887, when Valerio was born in the small-town of Saint’ Andrea, located in the Emilia-Romagna region of Northern Italy. He was one of six children and was born into a destitute family. Valerio’s father required that all of his children work at a young age to lend support to the family’s struggling financial situation. He and his siblings did work that included various kinds of physical labor, one of which was stone cutting. Valerio not only had a knack for stone cutting, but also developed a passion for it. No matter how much work the children did, however, it barely made ends meet. Growing up with a close-knit family, Valerio took matters into his own hands and decided to leave Italy to seek job opportunities to provide a better life for his family. Valerio’s childhood in Italy instilled a strong work ethic in him, which was able to transcend the border with him when he came to North America.
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| San Bruno Mountain can be viewed directly behind downtown, not to be confused with the north Santa Cruz Mountains in the far background |
I only occasionally post an entire borrowed article, as I know the concern would want their site to be the one cited in any instance. I hope they don't mind me posting the image. At one time, Colma WAS Genoa, Lucca, Bologna, etc; generally a "little northwest Italy." Even today, it represents at least some semblance of a geographical community for our people. Another way of looking at it, historically-speaking, is the whole area surrounding San Bruno Mountain. Crocker Amazon was once more Italian than North Beach, then there's the Excelsior, Bayshore and Hillside in Daly City, Broadmoor, South San Francisco, Colma, and generally all around the perimeter of the mountain.
In the many aerial images of San Francisco's skyline facing southward that we've seen for decades, San Bruno Mountain just stands there in the background like a phantom that nobody really notices. It's 1,319 foot peak is taller than the tallest building in San Francisco (the Salesforce Tower, designed by the late famous Cisalpine-Argentine architect César Pelli, is 1,070 feet). One of the best kept local secrets is the little parking lot at the top of Radio Road on San Bruno Mountain. If anyone hasn't been there, you should wait for a nice day, and bring a camera!
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