Nova Milano

Nova Milano is a historic site and the seat of the fourth district of the Brazilian municipality of Farroupilha, considered the birthplace of Italian colonization in the state of Rio Grande do Sul.

The arrival of railroads in 1910 determined a reorganization in the road and economic structure of the region, harming the growth of Nova Milano, which in 1934 was incorporated to the new municipality of Farroupilha as its fourth district, remaining until today with mainly rural characteristics.

In 1975 the governments of Italy and Rio Grande do Sul organized a large series of festivities and events to commemorate the 100 years of Italian colonization in the state.

Two other colonies were demarcated at the time: Conde d'Eu and Dona Isabel, but the administration of the project was tumultuous and not very efficient, and the first immigrants faced a series of difficulties when arriving in Rio Grande do Sul.

The lands closest to the rivers and valleys were already occupied by Germans, and the colonies destined for the Italians were located on the mountain slopes, rugged and previously unexplored regions.

[2][3] Most Italians who arrived in Brazil at the end of the 19th century were sent to São Paulo, working on the coffee plantations, where they were poorly paid employees and lived in terrible conditions.

The immigrants would travel by sea to the port of Rio Grande, from there by boat up the Patos Lagoon to Porto Alegre, where they were received in a pavilion and waited to be directed to their final destination.

From Porto Alegre, they continued by boat or caravan to Montenegro or São Sebastião do Caí, from where the roads branched off to, respectively, the Conde d'Eu/Dona Isabel and Caxias Colonies.

Soon after, the site was considered inadequate, and the headquarters was transferred to a more central and less topographically rugged location about 20 km to the northeast, in Travessão Santa Teresa of the 5th Légua, where there was a stripped plain called Campo dos Bugres, situated in the current historic center of Caxias do Sul.

The continuous passage of travelers made it so that around the old shed a village took shape, constituted as the headquarters of the 3rd district of Caxias on September 25, 1902, receiving notary's office, priest, church and sub-intendent.

The climax of the festivities took place on May 20, in the Immigration Square - reaffirming the date as the official beginning of the settlement process organized by the government - including a parade of floats, artistic and folkloric attractions, speeches, hoisting of flags and staging of the arrival of immigrants, attended by the president of the Republic General Ernesto Geisel, the Minister of Labor, the governor of the State, the Italian Ambassador in Brazil and the Italian undersecretary of foreign affairs, among other authorities.

[17][18][19] Carlos Tenius, creator of the monument, said of it: "It presents the virile Italian soul who took on the responsibility of breaking through the woods, climbing the mountains, and establishing, on Brazilian soil, their homeland.

The bare iron, without artifice, without far-fetched solutions, presents to us, all that courage and material detachment that was able to raise the highlands, a preponderant part of the Gaucho progress.

To the visuals, from the road, will evidence the group of figures as a single block, dominant and omnipresent, over the mountain range, light and floating, merging into the magic of nature, configuring in its expressiveness the longings of the pioneers and the gratitude of their descendants who here erect the beautiful and therefore perennial to remember them.

[25] Entrai (Italian Traditions Gathering - Encontro de Tradioções Italianas) is a festival with artistic presentations, dance, music, gastronomy, and crafts, which takes place every two years, attracting about 40 thousand visitors over five days.

In addition to the monument, replicas of a Venetian gondola and the Lion of St. Mark, the symbol of the City of Venice, offered by the government of Italy, can be found in the park, as well as several plaques representing the most varied Italian regions.

In addition to the monuments, in the square there is the old Santa Helena da Cruz Church, built by the colonizers, with its interior painted with frescoes, and the replica of the Madonnina del Duomo, whose original stands on top of the Milan Cathedral.