and in recognition of the Costa family's many years of dedication to fostering a worldwide appreciation of amber.

A pharmacist in her native Italy, Didi Costa came to Puerto Plata for the first time in 1970 for a summer vacation with her husband Aldo and their two sons. They were charmed by the North Coast and saw opportunities for themselves building and improving upon what was already there.

Aldo Costa, who had worked in tourism in Vicenza, Italy, would become one of that industry's pioneers in the Dominican Republic and eventually the first general manager of the Hotel Montemar, the leading North Coast hotel at the time.

During those initial years, Didi Costa, with the trained eye of a pharmacist discovered the scientific value of amber and was soon dedicating her spare time to collecting amber fossils - pieces that at the time had very little value to Dominicans. She recalls how the amber resin was traditionally burned to keep mosquitoes away, but was otherwise taken for granted. In those days, very little amber jewelry was crafted or sold.

When the Montemar Hotel required a gift shop, Didi Costa volunteered. As a result she began to purchase samples of amber brought to her from the mine. She set aside pieces she found exceptional, saving them in a box of cigars, and later in a safe.

Mesmerized by the pieces of the past captured in the drops of amber, and realizing their value as historical witnesses, she began to buy them by the bag from the men who came down from the mountain mines. As word of her interest qrew, miners beqan

Didi Costa,
founder of the
Dominican Amber
Museum.