Dolly Sinatra
| Dolly Sinatra | |
|---|---|
| Born |
Natalina Maria Vittoria Garaventa December 26, 1896 Genoa, Italy |
| Died | January 6, 1977 (aged 80) San Gorgonio Wilderness, California |
| Nationality | Italy |
| Known for | Mother of Frank Sinatra |
Dolly Sinatra (born Natalina Maria Vittoria Garaventa (December 26, 1896 – January 6, 1977) was the mother of American singer Frank Sinatra. She was born in Lumarzo (Province of Genoa), in northern Italy; she immigrated to the United States when she was two months old. When she was a child, her pretty face earned her the nickname "Dolly".
Dolly married Antonino Martino "Marty" Sinatra in 1913, and in 1915 the couple's only child, Frank Sinatra, was born. Dolly was influential in the Sinatras' neighborhood in Hoboken, New Jersey, where they later operated a tavern during Prohibition. She became involved in politics and worked as a midwife. It is believed that she also provided an illegal abortion service in the area. She died in a plane crash in 1977.
Natalina Maria Vitoria Garaventa was born on December 26, 1896, in Genoa, in northern Italy. She was brought to the United States when she was two months old. When she was a child, her pretty face earned her the nickname "Dolly". As an adult, she stood less than five feet tall and weighed approximately 90 pounds. Biographer James Kaplan describes her as having a "politician's temperament—restless, energetic, unreflective". Her father was a lithographer. He was also a peasant.
During her teen years, Dolly met Antonino Martino "Marty" Sinatra, born in Lercara Friddi, who immigrated from Catania, Sicily. Though her family opposed it, the couple eloped on Valentine's Day, 1913, and were married at the city hall in Jersey City, New Jersey; they were later remarried in a church.
Dolly gave birth to Francis Albert Sinatra on December 12, 1915, in an upstairs tenement at 415 Monroe Street in Hoboken, New Jersey, the couple's only child. Sinatra weighed 13.5 pounds (6.1 kg) at birth and had to be delivered with the aid of forceps, which caused severe scarring to his left cheek, neck, and ear, and perforated his ear drum, damage that remained for life. A childhood operation on his mastoid bone left major scarring on his neck, and during adolescence he suffered from cystic acne that scarred his face and neck. The family were Roman Catholic, but due to her son's injuries at birth, his baptism was delayed for several months.
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