Italian Brazilians

Italian Brazilians are people in Brazil who have full or partial Italian ancestry. Their ancestors were Italians who moved to Brazil many years ago, or they are more recent Italian-born people who have settled in Brazil. Italian Brazilians are the largest group of people with Italian ancestry living outside of Italy. The city of São Paulo has more people with Italian ancestry than any other city in the world.

You can find millions of descendants of Italians all over Brazil, from the southeastern state of Minas Gerais to the southernmost state of Rio Grande do Sul, but most live in São Paulo state. In some small towns in the south, like Nova Veneza, as much as 95% of the people have Italian roots.

Even though there are no exact numbers today, in 1940 about 1.3 million Brazilians said they had an Italian father, and about 1 million said they had an Italian mother. Brazilian culture has been greatly shaped by Italian traditions, language, and customs. Many parts of Brazilian food, fashion, and lifestyle show the strong influence of Italian immigration.

Italian immigration to Brazil

Main article: Italian diaspora

There are about 31 million Brazilians with Italian roots. This includes people with any Italian ancestry, even if they don’t live like Italians today. Some experts think only around 3.5 to 4.5 million Brazilians really feel connected to Italian culture.

Even though some people treated Italian immigrants unfairly at first, and there were hard times during World War II, most Italian-Brazilians became successful parts of Brazilian society. Many important Brazilians, like leaders, artists, and sports stars, have Italian roots. Four Presidents of Brazil had Italian families.

In Brazil, anyone born in the country is a Brazilian citizen. Many Italians who moved to Brazil also became citizens. Before 1994, Brazil didn’t allow people to have more than one country’s citizenship. But now, many Italian-Brazilians can claim Italian citizenship too. If someone has an Italian parent, they can be Italian citizens. They need certain papers from Italy to use these rights. Italian citizens living far from Italy can vote for Italy’s government.

Italy became one country in 1861. Before that, it was split into many small parts. This history made Italian people strong in their home towns but not always proud of being Italian. In the 1800s, many Italians left because of trouble in their country and because they were poor. Most were farmers with very little money.

In 1850, Brazil banned bringing in slaves from other countries. As slavery ended, Brazil needed new workers for farms. In 1878, a meeting in Rio de Janeiro said Brazil should bring in European immigrants, especially from Italy, Portugal, and Spain. Italy’s immigrants mostly went to São Paulo to work on big coffee farms.

Brazil started settling immigrants on farms in the early 1800s. The big wave of Italian immigrants came between 1880 and 1900, when almost one million Italians arrived in Brazil. Many became Brazilian citizens. Some reports showed very bad conditions on farms, with people being treated unfairly. Because of this, Italy later stopped helping people move to Brazil for farm work, but Italians still came until around 1920.

Most Italian immigrants came from places like Veneto, Lombardy, and Emilia-Romagna. Later, more came from southern Italy.

In 1924, a prince from Italy visited Brazil to connect with Italian communities, but could not reach Rio de Janeiro or São Paulo because of protests. He visited Bahia, where Italian people welcomed him happily.

Statistics

1940 Brazilian census

In 1940, Brazil asked people about their fathers' origins. At that time, 1,260,931 Brazilians had fathers who were from Italy. This was the largest group, followed by those with Portuguese, Spanish, and German fathers.

The census also looked at mothers. Italian mothers had the most children in Brazil, with 1,069,862 children. Portuguese, Spanish, and Japanese mothers followed.

Others

In 1998, Brazil tested a question about ancestry in a survey in six big cities: São Paulo, Rio de Janeiro, Porto Alegre, Belo Horizonte, Salvador, and Recife.

Main Italian settlements in Brazil

Areas of settlement

Most Italians who moved to Brazil settled in the State of São Paulo. Because of this, São Paulo today has more people with Italian roots than any area in Italy. Smaller numbers of Italians moved to the states of Rio Grande do Sul and Minas Gerais.

Over time, Italian families moved to many other parts of Brazil. In the early 1900s, many Italians from Rio Grande do Sul moved to the west of Santa Catarina and then to Paraná. Today, people with Italian ancestry can be found even in places where the first Italian families never lived, such as the Cerrado region of the Central-West, the Northeast, and the Amazon rainforest area in the far north of Brazil.

Southern Brazil

The earliest Italian communities in Brazil were in the highlands of Rio Grande do Sul, in places like Garibaldi and Bento Gonçalves. Most of these immigrants came from Veneto, a region in northern Italy. As more Italians arrived, the Brazilian government helped create new communities, such as Caxias do Sul. Many Italians then moved on their own to other parts of Rio Grande do Sul, especially to the highlands, where they could find space away from German settlers and local farmers.

Italians built many vineyards in southern Brazil, and the wine they made is popular in Brazil, though not widely exported. In 1875, Italian settlers also began to arrive in Santa Catarina, north of Rio Grande do Sul, creating communities such as Criciúma, and later moving into Paraná.

At first, Italian immigrants kept to themselves, speaking their own languages and following their traditions. Over time, they became part of the larger Brazilian society, helping to grow the economy and culture of southern Brazil.

Southeastern Brazil

Many Italians moved to the State of São Paulo in southeastern Brazil. The Brazilian government first helped bring immigrants, paying for their trips, but later farmers and companies recruited workers directly. Posters in Italy showed pictures of Brazil and promised wealth through working on coffee farms, which Italians called "green gold".

Most coffee farms were in São Paulo and Minas Gerais, with some also in Espírito Santo and Rio de Janeiro. As São Paulo became Brazil's main coffee producer, it attracted most Italian immigrants. Many came as whole families. They signed contracts to work on coffee farms, though conditions were often very hard. Some rebels rose up against unfair treatment, leading the Italian government to place limits on travel to Brazil.

By 1901, most factory and construction workers in São Paulo were Italian. Two important coffee centers were São Carlos and Ribeirão Preto, both known for rich soil and hot weather.

Other parts of Brazil

In the state of Mato Grosso do Sul, about 5% of people have Italian ancestors.

Decline of Italian immigration

In 1902, Italian immigration to Brazil began to decrease. Between 1903 and 1920, only about 306,652 Italians came to Brazil, much fewer than those who went to Argentina or the United States. This happened mainly because of a law in Italy called the Prinetti Decree, which stopped Italy from helping people move to Brazil. The law was made because many stories in Italy talked about how hard life was for Italians living in Brazil.

After slavery ended in Brazil, many former slaves left the farms, causing a shortage of workers on coffee plantations. To solve this, Brazil offered trips for Europeans, especially Italians, to come work on the farms. However, there were no laws to protect workers, and the contracts could be broken by the farm owners.

Many Italian immigrants worked long hours on big farms and had to buy things from the landowners. Some even had to work with their children. Life was very hard, and many Italians wanted to leave Brazil. Between 1890 and 1904, around 223,031 Italians left Brazil, mostly after working on coffee farms. Some went back to Italy, while others moved to Uruguay or the United States.

Even though many left, most Italians stayed in Brazil. After working for a year on farms, some moved to cities. Many found jobs in factories, and others opened shops or sold goods on the streets. Over time, the next generation of Italian Brazilians often found better jobs and improved their lives.

Assimilation

Integration of Italians into Brazilian society was generally quick and peaceful, except for a few isolated cases of violence between 1892 and 1896. In São Paulo, most Italians became part of Brazilian culture within two generations. Even first-generation immigrants from Italy adapted well to life in their new country.

In Southern Brazil, where many Italians lived in isolated rural areas, families kept traditional Italian customs for a time. However, over time, Italians began to marry more Brazilians and blend into the larger society. By the mid-20th century, fewer people spoke Italian at home. This change happened faster for Italians than for other immigrant groups because of cultural similarities between Italy and Brazil.

Prosperity

Italian immigrants and their families helped build many big cities in Brazil. In places like São Paulo, Campinas, Porto Alegre, Curitiba, and Belo Horizonte, they worked hard in farms and factories. Some became rich and helped bring more Italians to live there.

Many Italians started their own businesses, banks, and schools. They also created groups to help each other, like the Circolo Italiano, and started football teams such as Palestra Italia, which is now called Sociedade Esportiva Palmeiras. Their efforts helped Brazil grow and develop during the early 1900s.

Characteristics of Italian immigration in Brazil

Most Italian immigrants who came to Brazil were from Northern Italy. However, they did not all come from the same place. In the state of São Paulo, the Italian community included people from many parts of Italy, including the South and the Center. Today, we know that 42% of Italians in Brazil came from Northern Italy, 36% from Central Italy, and only 22% from Southern Italy. Brazil is special because it is the only country in the Americas where people from Southern Italy are not the largest group.

In the early days, most immigrants came from the North of Italy. Southern Brazil received many of these early settlers, and most of them were from the very North of Italy, especially from places like Veneto, Vicenza (32%), Belluno (30%), and Treviso (24%). In Rio Grande do Sul, many came from Cremona, Mantua, parts of Brescia, and Bergamo in the Lombardy region, close to Veneto. The areas of Trentino and Friuli-Venezia Giulia also sent many people to Southern Brazil. In Rio Grande do Sul, 54% of immigrants were from Veneto, 33% from Lombardy, 7% from Trentino, 4.5% from Friuli-Venezia Giulia, and only 1.5% from other parts of Italy.

Later, during the early 20th century, problems in Southern Italy caused many people to move to Brazil, especially to São Paulo, where they were needed to work on coffee farms. These immigrants were mostly from Veneto, Calabria, and Campania. After World War II, some Istrian Italians and Dalmatian Italians also came to Brazil because their homes were no longer part of Italy after the Treaty of Peace with Italy, 1947.

Italian influences in Brazil

Italian people who moved to Brazil brought many traditions with them. In São Paulo, you can still hear echoes of Italian language in the way people speak Portuguese today. Words like Belo and Ma vá! come from Italian roots, and some people find it hard to speak Portuguese in the plural form, often treating plural words as if they were singular.

Italian culture also mixed with Brazilian music, creating new styles. One famous example is samba paulista, a type of samba that combines Italian traditions with local sounds. This style was started by Adoniran Barbosa, whose parents were Italian immigrants. His songs tell stories about life in Italian neighborhoods in São Paulo.

Italian food also became a big part of Brazilian life. Dishes like pizza and pasta are now everyday foods in Brazil. Italians introduced many recipes, and some even created new Brazilian dishes, such as galeto (a small roasted chicken dish) and Bife à parmegiana (a steak with cheese sauce). One special tradition is eating gnocchi (a type of pasta) on the 29th of each month, which comes from an old legend about a kind saint who brought good luck to farmers.

Education

There are special schools in Brazil where students can learn in both Italian and Brazilian ways. Two of these schools are Scuola Italiana Eugenio Montale in São Paulo and Istituto Italo-Brasiliano Biculturale Fondazione Torino in Belo Horizonte. These schools help children learn the languages and cultures of both countries.

Current Italian emigration in Brazil

In 2019, about 11,663 people from Italy moved to Brazil. By that year, there were around 447,067 Italian citizens living in Brazil.

Notable people

Some well-known Italian Brazilians have made their mark in different fields. In arts and entertainment, there are musicians, actors, and models like André Abujamra, Bruna Abdullah, and Rodrigo Santoro. In politics, important figures include Count Francesco Matarazzo, Itamar Franco, who was the 33rd president of Brazil, and Jair Bolsonaro, the 38th President of Brazil.

Many Italian Brazilians are also famous in sports. In football, players such as Emerson Palmieri and Jorginho have played for national teams. There are also notable figures in other sports, like Guilherme Marchi in bull riding and Tabatha Ricci in mixed martial arts.