The Suarès (Suarez) della Pegna family came from Livorno to Egypt at the beginning of the nineteenth century. The members of the Egyptian branch of the family retained their Italian citizenship in the years that followed but did not generally use the della Pegna extension, which designates Spanish origin. As one of the Jewish “grand families,” they have sometimes been called the Egyptian Rothschilds.

      The founding father of the Egyptian branch of the family was Isaac Suarès, who began his career as a moneychanger (Ar. ṣarrāf). With the transition to a modernizing economy, he…