The Sodi family is a Mexican political family that is prominent in Mexican politics, law, art, and entertainment. The progenitor of the family, Carlos Sodi, emigrated from Florence to the southern Mexican state of Oaxaca in the 19th century. The family was a part of the Oaxacan liberal elite during the Porfiriato, owning numerous estates and large tracts of land. Strong allies to the regime, several members of the family occupied important political positions in the government of General Porfirio Díaz.

History

The Sodi family originates from the city of Florence, in the region of Tuscany, and its immigrant ancestor, the Italian engineer and lieutenant colonel Carlos Sodi (born 1805), was part of the Italian contingent that settled in Oaxaca during the 19th century. His second-born son, Carlos Sodi Candiani, married Dolores Guergué Antuñana y del Solar Campero, granddaughter of former Oaxacan governor José Joaquín Guergué, and whose family of Criollo origin had belonged to the local aristocracy since around 1700. In 1882, he occupied a seat for the first time as Senator of the Mexican Republic in the XI Legislature of the Mexican Congress, a post he would hold at least ten times during the dictatorship, representing the states of Oaxaca and Michoacán. Demetrio Sodi Guergué, son of the latter, in continuation of his family's close ties to the Porfirian regime, was promoted to Minister of the Supreme Court of Justice of the Nation in 1906, a position he would occupy until 1914. During this period, he came to occupy the Presidency of the Court on two separate occasions. In 1911, he was integrated into the Presidential Cabinet as Secretary of Justice. By the late 19th and early 20th centuries, the family owned large tracts of land in the state. The Sodi Candiani brothers, Carlos and Demetrio, were the owners of Hacienda Concepción and Hacienda Candiani and its annex, La Compañía. The latter was dedicated to the production of sugar cane and had a land surface of 328-50-23 hectares. Alfredo Sodi was the owner of Hacienda San Luis Beltrán, which had a land surface of 1,765-71-58 hectares. The family was also a shareholder in La Natividad mine, the most productive and technologically advanced in the state by 1906, which employed 450 workers, with Demetrio Sodi having sat on the board of directors.

Notable members