Antonio Carlos Rodrigues Lorette (Pontifícia Universidade Católica de Minas Gerais campus Poços de Caldas)

“Italian” Cemeteries in Southwest of Minas Gerais

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, bordering 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 cultivation and the railroad network. To cover the demand for labor, after the abolition of slavery (1888), São Paulo’s farmers encouraged the mass immigration of Italian settlers into this territory. Minas Gerais had little mobilized, only promoting immigration in the South and Borda da Mata. As the frontier did not limit private investments, Italian immigration proliferated throughout the mountains, characterizing the culture of southwest Minas Gerais. Among the Italian settlers, there were artisans, locksmiths, carpenters, painters and sculptors. When settling the travel debt, many Italians have left the rural to the urban core, qualifying the trade and civil construction in the cities. One of the most symbolic heritage produced by Italians are the cemeteries, where the ideal of classical sculpture converges and mirror, respecting the scales, in the famous monumental Italian cemeteries, such as Campo de Verano (Rome), Staglieno (Genoa) and Milano Cemetery. This study focuses on the traditional cemeteries of the Southwest of Minas Gerais, documenting and surveying the production of funerary art, and investigating sociocultural issues in its design and construction. We selected 12 public cemeteries in the following municipalities: São Sebastião do Paraíso, Monte Santo de Minas, Guaranésia, Guaxupé, Muzambinho, Cabo Verde, Botelhos, Poços de Caldas, Andradas, Jacutinga, Ouro Fino and Monte Sião. All were built from 1900, some moved from the urban center by sanitary measures. The burials are not of Italian majority, however, the monuments - tombs, chapels and gantries - are designed and built by the generations of Italian descendants.
The works range from sculptures in Carrara marble to pieces cast in bronze, on structures of Brazilian granite. The children of Italians were sent to Pietrasanta, in order to perfect the art of sculpture. Among the prominent names are: Fernando Furlanetto, Lélio Coluccini, Amadeu Martinelli, A. Novelli, A. Fazzi, M. Tavolaro, Eugenio Prati, Nardini and Aldo Puccetti. The imaginary of the “cemetero monumentale” has become a universal reference, without territorial boundaries, transforming it into a concise and representative heritage of all these mining communities.