O Espírito Santo na rota da grande imigração: sinais da presença italiana no vale do Rio Caxixe, Castelo (ES)

Abstract

This thesis studies the phenomenon of great immigration as the starting point of a long process of colonization in Brazil that extends from the mid-nineteenth century to the beginning of the First World War, and which left marks on the landscape where it took place. We rescue the contribution of the main theories of immigration, identifying in the general conditions of life in the regions of origin and destination the reasons leading large human contingents to leave Europe towards the Americas. At various times during that period, Brazil had potentially competitive conditions like Argentina and the United States to absorb European immigrants, with Italians being the ones who came here in greater numbers. In Brazilian lands, specially the South and Espírito Santo provinces, for different reasons, ended up receiveing a significant part of individuals from Northern Italy. They were mostly farmers, dreaming of abandoning the poverty in which they have been living and achieving prosperity with freedom in the New World by working their own land. In the province of São Paulo, Italian immigration becomes numerically large, although more focused on the supply of salaried labor, both in the countryside and in the city. In Espírito Santo at that time, despite the proximity to the capital of the Empire and the most dynamic regions in the colonial period, there was plenty of land to be appropriated, putting this piece of Brazil on the route of great immigration. It is the first major movement of interiorization in Espírito Santo occupation, whose marks in the landscape constitute the main objective of the thesis. The valley of the river Caxixe, in the municipality of Castelo, is a typical area of Italian colonization, analysed here through interviews with residents, consultation of documents, search for historical objects and much direct observation. It has been verified that the local population is mostly descended from Italian immigrants. In the field of material culture, the signs of such origins are striking in residential constructions, roads, and ingenious solutions in their effort to adapt to the new environment, always reinvented as in new agricultural practices and new activities in rural areas. The attachment to land conserves much of the old properties among members of these families. The cultural awareness of its residents is attested to in the preservation of values and a way of life that can be identified with their origin, that is, Italy. As to religious practices, churches, cruises, oratories, and objects of devotion constitute the most visible aspects of the Italian cultural heritage. Furthermore, there is in the symbolism of parties and celebrations the evident mark of the pioneers. Modified, remembered, but always resized, these religious and social habits conform a cultural legacy that could be more deeply studied regarding the development potential of the entire region.