Monte Brasil is the remnants of a tuff volcano (and peninsula) connecting the south coast of Terceira in the central Azores, overlooking the city of Angra do Heroísmo.

[4][6] Writing in his epic tome Saudades da Terra, the humanist theologian Gaspar Frutuoso, while describing Angra: Between the 16th and 17th century, the construction of a system of fortified structures that would be the nucleus of the Fortress of São Filippe/São João Baptista do Monte Brasil.

[4] On Pico do Facho, starting in this period and extending to the 20th century, was a house and semaphore signalling post along with several military structures,[7] including excavations in the ground (channels and rectangular depressions) representing complex installations associated with these activities.

[4] At the beginning of the Second World War, structures were constructed on the summit of Monte Brasil to support coastal defences of the Azores, during a time when open warfare existed between the Allies and Axis.

[9] With its imposing point over the city, there are several lookouts situated along its edges that provide panoramic views of the island, including: the Angra marina, the coasts of Porto Judeu and Ribeirinha, the islets in the east, and to the west from the Bay of Fanal, towards Villa Maria until the parish of São Mateus da Calheta.

[7] Of the sedentary bird species the hawk (Buteo buteo rothschild) is the most notable, along with the Atlantic canary (Serinus canaria), common House Sparrow (Passer domesticus), Rock Dove (Columba livia), Atlantic European Goldfinch (Carduelis carduelis parva) and the Azorean subspecies of Common blackbird (Turdus merula azorensis).

During the summer, and especially along the mount's southern coast there are large bands of nesting species of Cory's Shearwater (Calonectris diomedea), Common Tern (Sterna hirundo), and the ubiquitous Caspian Gull (Larus cachinnans).