Before colonization, the Piranga River basin region was inhabited by the indigenous Aimoré and Purí people, who with the Tamoios belonged to the Tupi group.

The white European settlement of the region began in the eighteenth century in the settlements located on the banks of the Caminho Novo (New Path) – a road opened by the colonial government for gold to be taken straight from the Minas region to Rio de Janeiro, shortening the route and maintaining its monopoly, which was previously through the Mantiqueira Mountains, passing through the Serra do Mar and the Ilha Grande bay, on the São Paulo coast, only then reach Rio de Janeiro.

On March 8, 1800, Father Francisco José da Silva obtained permission from the bishop of Mariana – Friar Cipriano – to erect a hermitage in honor of Saint Rita of Cascia, where the chapel of Our Lord of Passos is situated today on Passos Street, center of the district headquarters; the region became the patrimony of Saint Rita of Cascia.

The construction of a new Catholic church to the patron saint in another place caused the axis of urban expansion to move towards a flatter area, near the Ribeirão São Bartolomeu valley, with better conditions to erect new buildings, favoring the growth of the town .

On October 13, 1831, the current town of Rio Pomba, 100 km (62 mi) from Viçosa, was elevated to the category of village, passing Santa Rita do Turvo to become one of its 14 initial districts (in 1837 there were 20).

In 1851 the first mother church was inaugurated, built on the old necropolis that was in front of the chapel located in what is today the Praça Silviano Brandão, with its demolition after the construction was completed.

The village was elevated to the category of city, municipality, effectively three years later (June 3, 1876), with the name of Viçosa de Santa Rita, in honor of the seventh Bishop of Mariana, Dom Antônio Ferreira Viçoso.

On January 22, 1873, the installation of the municipality took place, with the inauguration of the building to be the headquarters of the city hall and jail on the site of the current property number 136 of the Praça Silviano Brandão, on the right corner with Rua dos Passos.

The distance from the train station to the city center made it difficult to board and disembark passengers, since it was only possible to get there by ox cart, carriages and other means.

This situation lasted for almost 30 years, until the Leopoldina station was transferred to the city center, and its inauguration took place on August 21, 1914, when the local population had already reached two thousand inhabitants.

In 1922 the Regional Hospital was inaugurated at Afonso Pena Street (as part of the Public Health Plan of the then President of the State of Minas Gerais, Dr. Artur Bernardes).

A Escola Superior de Agricultura e Veterinária (ESAV; the Higher School of Agriculture and Veterinary Science) was founded in 1926, by the then president of Brazil and former mayor of Viçosa, Arthur da Silva Bernardes.

Its first director was Professor Peter Henry Rolfs, who brought an educational model used in schools in Florida, United States, based on the three-fold "Teaching, Research and Extension" concept that soon spread throughout the rest of the country.

The institution attracts people in search of employment and brings students and professors from various parts of the country, promoting the growth and expansion of the city.

[This quote needs a citation] In the territorial division dated December 31, 1963, the municipality consisted of three districts: Viçosa, Cachoeira de Santa Cruz and Silvestre.

At the same time, Vila Giannetti was built on the university campus, designed to be a residence for professors, bringing to the city one of the rare examples of Modernist urbanism in the interior of the country.

The verticalization trend continues in the Ramos and Clélia Bernardes neighborhood, as well as in the area of Praça Silviano Brandão, Avenida Santa Rita and Rua Gomes Barbosa.

It was also in the 1990s that the neighborhoods of Fátima, Lourdes, São Sebastião, Santo Antônio, and João Braz, among others, began to verticalize, although to a lesser degree, around five floors.

The verticalization process of the city and the uncontrolled arrival of new students caused, in addition to structural problems, complaints by the people of Viçosa about the quality of life.

On March 17, 2011, after several popular demonstrations about the non-compliance with the noise law, it was imposed that establishments open at night with sound insulation could only operate until 3:00 a.m.; the others should close until 2:00 a.m., as stated in the Code of Ordinances of the Municipality of Viçosa.

Despite the urban problems, the municipality stands out as a micro-regional hub, meeting a demand of almost 200,000 inhabitants who come to Viçosa in search of health, education and commerce services.

TecnoParq is housed in the revitalized and expanded facilities of the former Artur Bernardes Agricultural School, linked to the now-defunct Fundação Nacional do Bem-Estar do Menor ('National Foundation of Child Welfare', Funabem.