[1] He was born in Castellabate, Salerno, Kingdom of the Two Sicilies, the eldest of Doctor Costabile Matarazzo's nine sons, and Mariangela Jovane.

At the age of 26, when Italian emigration to Brazil was widespread, he moved to the city of Sorocaba, São Paulo with his brothers, wife and children.

[2] Initially he sold oranges and lottery tickets and shined shoes, reinvesting the proceeds in new businesses, eventually including plantations of tea, coffee, corn, rice, rubber and cotton.

The outbreak of the Spanish-American War made it difficult to buy wheat flour and he obtained credit from the London and Brazilian Bank to build a mill in São Paulo.

[3]In recognition of his financial and material assistance to Italy during the First World War King Victor Emmanuel III granted him the title of Count.