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**Italian cemeteries in the Southwest of Minas Gerais: Prior recognition for its preservation and restoration**


**Antonio Carlos Rodrigues Lorette**

Pontifícia Universidade Católica de Minas Gerais

*lorettearquitetos@gmail.com*   

## Abstract

A group of 12 municipalities in the Southwest of the State of Minas Gerais, connected by the same road, has in common the cultural presence of Italian immigration, since the end of the 19th century, which is well represented in its cemeteries. Of these, we selected four sequential specimens, the cemeteries of Guaranésia, Guaxupé, Muzambinho and Cabo Verde, presenting a brief history and description of their compositional elements. Then, we analyze the constant typologies and the state of conservation, suggesting preliminary procedures for their preservation.

## Introduction

The State of Minas Gerais is a complex territory in its historical, political and administrative formation. Much of its municipalities are concentrated in the southwest wing, on the border with the State of São Paulo, through an extensive mountain range. Territorial occupation was consolidated in the *Primeira República*, starting in 1889, with the expansion of coffee plantations and the railway network. To cover the demand for labor, after the abolition of slavery (1888), São Paulo farmers encouraged the mass immigration of Italian settlers into this territory. Minas Gerais had little mobilization, only promoting immigration in the South and Borda da Mata. As the border did not limit private investments, Italian immigration found better options for work and the possibility of buying land on the southwest side of Minas Gerais.
Among the Italian settlers, there were professionals, artisans, locksmiths, carpenters, masters, painters and sculptors. When settling the travel debt, many left the rural to the urban core, qualifying their trade and civil construction.
The most symbolic heritage produced by these Italian immigrants are the cemeteries, where the ideal of classical sculpture converges and mirror, respecting the scales, the famous monumental Italian cemeteries, such as *Campo de Verano* (Rome), *Staglieno* (Genoa) and Milan Cemetery.
Our study is focused on the traditional cemeteries in the Southwest of Minas Gerais, documenting and surveying the production of funerary art, and investigating socio-cultural issues in its design and construction. We selected 12 public cemeteries in the following municipalities: Arceburgo, Guaranésia, Guaxupé, Muzambinho, Cabo Verde, Botelhos, Poços de Caldas, Andradas, Jacutinga, Ouro Fino, Monte Sião and Albertina. Connected by the BR-146 highway and a short stretch of the BR-491 highway, the epicenter corresponds to Poços de Caldas, currently the most populous municipality.
For this article, we will deal with four cemeteries among the selected ones - Guaranésia, Guaxupé, Muzambinho and Cabo Verde -, interconnected by the same road, with a brief history and description of its compositional elements.
All these cemeteries were built from the end of the 19th century, some moved from the urban center by sanitary measures, sitting on opposite sides and hills, away from the “living” up to a kilometer away. The burials are not of an Italian majority, however, the monuments - tombs, chapels and porticoes - are designed and built by two or more generations of Italian descendants.
The works range from sculptures in Carrara marble to pieces cast in bronze, on structures of Brazilian granite. Children of Italians were sent to Pietrasanta, with the aim of perfecting themselves in the art of sculpture. Among the main names are: Fernando Furlanetto, Lélio Coluccini, Amadeu Martinelli, A. Novelli, A. Fazzi, M. Tavolaro, Eugenio Pratti, Nardini, Franceschini Grocera, and Aldo Puccetti. Interestingly, all of them fulfilled the countless orders in cemeteries in Minas Gerais, despite their companies located on the side of the State of São Paulo, such as Amparo, Espírito Santo do Pinhal, São João da Boa Vista, São José do Rio Pardo, Mococa and Ribeirão Preto.


![](https://i.imgur.com/3IstZMO.jpg) *Poços de Caldas Cemetery, in the 1940s. In the back, against the walls, the tombs transferred from the old downtown cemetery, in 1905. (Author's Collection)* **[width=50%]**


## Guaranésia

Former Santa Bárbara das Canoas, Guaranésia originated from a chapel built in 1820 and cured in 1855. Raised to the parish in 1873, it became a village in 1901 and a city in 1915 (Barbosa, 1971, p.208; Ferreira, 1959, v. XXV, p.178).
The old cemetery, a small wooden fence, was in front of the *Igreja Matriz de Santa Bárbara*, currently Praça Coronel Paula Ribeiro. In 1875, the parish cemetery was sealed and transferred to the old Praça Getúlio Vargas, then delimited by stone walls (Veiga, 1874, p. 362; Veiga, 1884, p. 358). At the end of the 19th century, a new transfer was made to the place where it is currently located, more than a kilometer away from the Igreja Matriz.
In a rectangular shape, the cemetery was divided into two wings: to the right of the one who enters, with general and children's graves, and, on the left, the perpetual graves. The cemetery was expanded in 1954, on its sides and at the back, building a neocolonial portico to accommodate the administration and toilets. The main street is flanked by several pinnacle and soco-type tombs, covered in white Carrara marble, dating from 1900. With several sculptures of angels and portraits of the deceased, this old avenue ended in the funerary chapel of Col. José Gabriel Pinheiro, on his right side.
Of the tombs and deposits highlighted, there are few Italian surnames of the deceased, these are reserved for the producers of the monuments, such as Fazzi, Grosera & Belloni, from Ribeirão Preto, and the sculptor Aldo Puccetti, established in São José do Rio Pardo and Campinas.


![](https://i.imgur.com/mgsfJjw.jpg)*Children's wing of the Guaranésia Cemetery. Miniature tombs surrounded by railings and topped by Carrara marble angels. (Photo by Author)* **[width=50%]**


## Guaxupé

The donation of 24 bushels of land from Fazenda Nova Floresta, in 1837, for the construction of a chapel dedicated to Nossa Senhora das Dores, gave rise to Arraial de Guaxupé. The primitive chapel was completed in 1839 on the current Conde Ribeiro do Valle Avenue, however, with the creation of the parish in 1856, it was decided to transfer the parish church to a higher point, inaugurated in 1864. The municipality of Guaxupé was installed in 1912 and the creation of the bishopric in 1916 (Barbosa, 1971, p.210-1; Ferreira, 1959, 192; Ribeiro do Valle, 1984, p.3).
There are reports of the existence of a primitive cemetery in the locality, before 1853, which was almost four kilometers away from the village, close to the Japy Station, which was to serve the “captives of the nation” and the deceased of contagious diseases (Barbosa, 1971, p. 210).
With the construction of the Chapel of Nossa Senhora das Dores, in 1839, the cemetery operated close to the temple and inside it. After the inauguration of the Igreja Matriz in 1864, a new cemetery was installed on the side block of its churchyard, where today is a playground. This cemetery was completely rebuilt in the early 1880s, following the initiative of Manoel Joaquim Ribeiro do Valle, Barão das Dores de Guaxupé (Veiga, 1884, p.362; Ribeiro do Vale, 1984, p.3).
The current Guaxupé cemetery was built, opened and blessed in 1896, five hundred meters away from the headquarters, strictly following the hygienist precepts of the time. According to the chronicler Luiz Antonio Dias, in a 1900 report, this cemetery “is large, square, well walled, with a large iron gate and occupying a beautiful and showy place, at the top and already against the side of the parish, leaving the population exempt of sepulchral exhalations”. And it says more that there were already "sumptuous mausoleums" (Ribeiro do Valle, 1984, p.39)
Named Luiz Smargiassi, by the 1989 City Council, Guaxupé's public cemetery is preceded by a large tree-lined street, Praça da Saudade, in front of the busy Dona Floriana Avenue. The entrance is made through a portal in the Doric order, designed and built in the 1920s, by the Italian architect Luiz Puntel. It has embossed ornaments, with crowns and lit torches, in addition to the eschatological sign on the passage arch: *I WAS WHAT YOU ARE AND YOU WILL BE THAT I AM*.
In a rectangular shape, the original cemetery was enlarged at the back and on one of the sides, reaching its limit because it is surrounded by the urban environment. Like the Guaranésia Cemetery, which probably followed its model, it is divided into two wings - general graves, on the right of those who enter, and perpetual ones, on the left - the latter, full of tombs in Carrara marble and sumptuous funerary chapels. The main street, which divides the cemetery, is notable in terms of the number of tombs from the 19th and 20th centuries, culminating in the funerary chapel of Barão de Guaxupé, neo-Gothic with Manueline columns.
Some Italian families stand out in graves produced from the 1920s. The production of the monuments is accredited mainly to those imported from Italy by the local company of Luiz Puntel and several other sculptors and marble makers in the São Paulo region, such as J. Bonetti, from Casa Branca; V. Orlandi, from Mococa; and Valentim Viezzi, from São José do Rio Pardo.


![](https://i.imgur.com/A0CnYat.jpg)
 *Main street of the Guaxupé Cemetery. Tombs and graves from the 19th century compete with tree trunks. (Photo by Author)* **[width=50%]**


## Muzambinho

Muzambinho was founded in 1857, when Pedro de Alcântara Magalhães chose a top of his property and built a chapel. His churchyard was surrounded by residences of families from other locations. The village was baptized São José da Boa Vista do Cabo Verde and was soon elevated to the Distrito de Paz in 1860, to the Parish in 1861, and to the Village in 1878, with the name changed to Muzambinho (Ferreira, 1959, v XXVI, p.168; Barbosa, 1971, p.305) The rapid development was mainly due to the agricultural economy of coffee, due to the fertile soil and adequate climate of the municipality. Founder Pedro de Alcântara Magalhães did not live to see the village transformed into a city. He died in 1877, at the age of 78, buried inside the chapel he had built (Falcucci, 2010, p. 244.)
The first cemetery in Muzambinho was behind the Igreja Matriz, in extension to its large churchyard. In 1874, they demanded the invoice for a new cemetery, more distant from the center. Some years later, when the works of the new began, it took its completion, being abandoned in 1884 (Veiga, 1874, p.39; Veiga, 1884, p.352). Those buried in the Igreja Matriz were exhumed bodies and transferred to the new and current public cemetery of 1897, including the remains of founder Pedro de Alcântara Magalhães.
The cemetery of Muzambinho was settled on Alto do Anjo, the highest hill in the municipality, at approximately one kilometer from the Igreja Matriz. Among the ancient tombs you have a spectacular view of the city center and the twilight of the sunset.
Its original shape is square, accommodating itself to the available topography, slightly inclined. There was an expansion to the left side of those who enter, on the side of the perpetual graves, and to the rear, since the wing of the general and children's graves was limited by the old vicinal road to Cabo Verde. Like its central chapel, the entrance porch was rebuilt and expanded in 1983, to accommodate the administration, storage and toilets.
The oldest tombs and graves are concentrated in the perpetual wing, not facing the main street, but with views of the center of Muzambinho. Along with the remains of the most important families in Muzambinho, also incorporated as Carrara marble headstones, which were vertically adapted into masonry spiers. The production of monuments and funerary chapels, marble and bronze statues, is almost entirely done by marble makers and sculptors of Italian surname in São Paulo, such as the Irmãos Coluccini, from Campinas; Valentim Viezzi, from São José do Rio Pardo; and Fazzi, Franceschini Grosera and Belloni, from Ribeirão Preto.


![](https://i.imgur.com/LMjx1Es.jpg) *Partial view of the perpetual graves at Muzambinho Cemetery. In Alto do Anjo, the panoramic view of the city through the tombs. (Photo by Author)* **[width=50%]**


## Cabo Verde

Cabo Verde has its origins in the mining of *faisqueira* gold. Veríssimo João de Carvalho discovered the ore in the Riacho de Assunção in 1762, transferring his family to the locality. The news spread quickly and the population of miners progressively increased, to the point of creating a new parish in the Arraial de Nossa Senhora da Assunção do Cabo Verde, in 1764. On that occasion, the Bishop of São Paulo authorized the construction of a cemetery in the churchyard of the camp's chapel. The parish was created in 1839, the year the chapel was renovated and enlarged to become the Igreja Matriz. In addition to this temple, Cabo Verde also had the chapel of the Irmandade de Nossa Senhora do Rosário, built from the provision of the bishop of 1766. Behind this chapel, the second cemetery of Cabo Verde was established, described in the old death books as Rosário Cemetery (Carvalho, 1988, p.213). The municipality of Cabo Verde was created in 1846, its title restored in 1866, after transfer to Caldas. It received a city forum in the imperial regime, in 1877 (Barbosa, 1971, p.89).
As it is outside the chapel and properly walled, the Rosário Cemetery remained in operation until the middle of the 19th century. As for the cemetery of the Assunção’s Chapel, which no longer includes burials in its interior and churchyard, it should be deactivated and transferred out of the village. In the 1830s, the camp received a provision from the Bishopric of São Paulo for the “construction of the cemetery of the brotherhood”, on top of the hill that existed in front of Largo da Matriz. After the construction of the Cemitério do Morro, the burial habit inside the Matriz continued until 1879, among the powerful and rich, when it was challenged by the City Council, with a heavy fine. In 1878, the City Council arranged for the construction of the current Municipal Cemetery, deactivating the cemeteries of Rosário and Morro (Carvalho, 1988, p.213).
As of 1910, the Executive Agent (Mayor) Oscar Ornelas promoted the excavation of the hill of the old cemetery, which limited the Praça da Matriz, in front of the current Colégio Pedro Saturnino. The land taken from this hill served to form the great embankment of the extension of this square, in addition to the correction of the old Praça Major Pedro de Melo and the path of the Municipal Cemetery (Carvalho, 1988, p.227)
The rugged topography of Cabo Verde, of mining origin, made it very difficult to choose a suitable site for the new cemetery, distancing it about a kilometer away from the headquarters and having to invest in planing its main access road. Its shape does not differ from other cities analyzed here, rectangular and long, climbing the top of the hill higher than the city. From its wide front, it opens a panoramic view of the entire urban center and the surrounding countryside.
The entrance porch, attached to the wall and the wrought iron gate, was built in the 1950s, in the neocolonial style, without ornaments, housing the administration, the warehouse and the toilets. You go up the main street, which divides into two wings: to the left of those who enter, to the general and children's graves, and to the right, to the perpetual graves, with several funerary monuments since the end of the 19th century. Among these, the great pinnacle tombs stand out, with tombstones of Carrara marble embedded in brick masonry, from the extinct cemeteries of Rosário and Morro. Due to the concentration of weight and lack of foundations, these monuments are sloping, to the point of collapse. Artistic deposits, in the style of art nouveau, interweave the pinnacles, with marble and granite coverings and large sculptures of angels, almost all made by marble makers and sculptors with the Italian surname, from the São Paulo side.
Among the tombs, many trees of different species and ages, planted without planning, make this cemetery a shady and picturesque place. The expansion of its territory has been continuous since the 1950s, extending to funds in trapezoidal format, expropriating sections of rural properties. In this wing, there is no care in the arrangement of the deposits and their accesses, which differs greatly from the old wing.

Entre os túmulos, muitas árvores de diversas espécies e idades, plantadas sem planejamento, tornam este cemitério num local sombreado e pitoresco. A ampliação de seu território é contínua, desde os anos 1950, estendendo-se aos fundos em formato trapezoidal, desapropriando trechos de propriedades rurais. Nesta ala, não há nenhum cuidado na disposição dos jazigos e seus acessos, diferenciando em muito da ala antiga.


![](https://i.imgur.com/k8SURo1.jpg) *Partial view of the perpetual graves at the Cabo Verde Cemetery. Pinnacle chapels and tombs compete with tree diversity. (Photo by Author)* **[width=50%]**


## About Cemeteries

In the cemeteries treated here, the typological similarity of the rectangular shape is perceived, dividing two specific wings for burials, the perpetual blocks, destined to the construction of solid and permanent deposits, and the general ones, with less time of exhumation, from five to ten years, necessary relay, in case of epidemic crises in the locality. These sanitary measures come mainly with the recommendations and legislation of the republican government after 1889.
In the center of the general blocks, to mark the graves, family members installed wooden fences or wrought and cast-iron railings, with a cross in the same technique and material at the head. They served to protect a small flower bed and vines from any animal that might enter the cemetery and would be easy to remove. Few of these bars have survived in the cemetery, as almost all general graves have been turned into perpetual ones.
Also, on the general blocks, flanking the main street of the cemetery, were the children's tombs, at a time when many young children died, mainly from the “seven-day illness”. The construction of these tiny tombs, in the shape of a punch, received sculptures of angels in various positions at its head, populating this wing of winged beings. Until the 1920s, these sculptures were imported from *Pietrasanta*, Italy, close to the Carrara deposits, by Italian marble makers installed in São Paulo municipalities. Increasing orders, they decided to send their descendants to learn the craft of sculpture and save on import costs.
The distance from these public cemeteries to the housing nucleus has been claimed since the imperial period, in addition to the demand for municipal care in the cleanliness and beauty of the space, remembering the constant visits of the “living” to their loved ones. As reported by *Almanak Sul Mineiro* in 1884, which existed in all villages, cemeteries "in a more or less regular state, and in general little preserved or cared for". Few were the “parishes that do not have them, as well as those that are in a position to need urgent repairs”. In the Republic, taking care of the cemetery was an obligation of good public administration, remembering also that European immigration, especially Italian immigration, had in these spaces its best cultural and traditional reference.
All cemeteries in the study are surrounded by brick masonry walls, plastered and whitewashed, with a main entrance gate, with a carefully worked grid. Of the four examples treated here, some gates have withstood the weather and were adapted to the future portico built with roofs, intended for the administration of the cemetery, general and sanitary deposits. Previously, until the 1940s, the municipal grave digger lived in a hovel close to the cemetery, like the one that still exists in Poços de Caldas.
The quality of the porticoes also varies from city to city, depending on the period in which they are built, and it can be mentioned as more beautiful and symbolic that of Guaxupé, Jacutinga and Ouro Fino, made by Italian *capomastri*.
Of all the cemeteries studied, we did not find orderly and harmonic afforestation, remembering that users were exposed to strong sunlight until the 1950s. From then on, the municipality began to plant species of public afforestation, fast growing and inappropriate to the cemetery, like the *Sibipiruna* and the *Spathodea Campanulata*, which end up bursting the tombs with their roots and breaking the sculptures with the fall of their branches. The most chaotic cemeteries in this case are Poços de Caldas, Cabo Verde and Botelhos.
As for the preservation of funerary monuments - tombs, graves, chapels, railings - it is at the mercy of family members and private individuals, without any control by the public authorities, which would be of fundamental importance. Firstly, it is necessary to recognize this heritage, through a continuous inventory, to detect emergencies and prevent the disappearance of these assets. In parallel, the public power must demand the preservation and conservation by the private, and if there is no longer the responsible, assume the role of caretaker and conservative. Many children's tombs are disappearing from our cemeteries, as there are no descendants of them, they are expropriated, granted to others and, consequently, demolished, scattering the sculptures of angels throughout the antique market.
Another very serious issue is the lack of knowledge about the techniques for cleaning and preserving stones used in funerary monuments, which are slowly destroyed by the action of acids and solvents. In this case, and as in all others cited here, awareness is required through educational heritage processes, from public schools to cemetery users and workers.
The security of these spaces is of fundamental importance for their preservation, since sculptures and ornaments are objects of constant theft, in addition to free and inconsequential depredation. In the cemeteries studied, some already have a minimum-security system, monitored with cameras, at least on the main street.


## Final considerations

Cemeteries are privileged spaces in the memory of a community, as they represent a summary of its history and traditions, naturally guaranteeing the strengthening and permanence of its affective values.
In the southwest of Minas Gerais, on the border with the State of São Paulo, cemeteries have an even greater significance, as they have become beautiful due to the sum of works of art in marble, granite and bronze, a situation promoted by the wealth of coffee and the Italian immigrant workforce.
The imaginary of the Cimitero Monumentale has become a universal reference, without territorial boundaries, transforming it into a concise and representative heritage of all these mining communities.
We must urgently recognize this heritage, inventory its elements of composition, detect risk and deteriorating situations, raise awareness among its agents and users, and promote its restoration and conservation.


![](https://i.imgur.com/M0c4uJ8.jpg) *Guaxupé Cemetery. The sequence of sculptures, usually produced by Italian artists, is common in cemeteries in the region. In the image, the same motif is repeated in three tombs of the same family of farmers. (Photo by Author)* **[width=50%]**


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