Exhibition 'In Search of the New Land' arrives in the interior of Brazil

The city of Espírito Santo do Pinhal in São Paulo opens this Friday (4) the traveling exhibition "In Search of the New Land", held in partnership with the Immigration Museum of São Paulo and the National Museum of Italian Emigration (MEI) in Genoa, Italy. The exhibition, which crossed the ocean, has free admission and will be on display until July 27, when it will move on to Minas Gerais.

Directed by historian Fabio Niosi, the proposal is divided into four routes that tell some of the most significant aspects of Italian immigration to Brazil. The first is "A trip to Brazil", conceived by MEI and the São Paulo Immigration Museum, curated by Alessandra Almeida and Pierangelo Campodonico.

Next comes the exhibition "The On-Board Library", proposed by the Dante Alighieri Society, curated by Giulia De Castro. Next comes the exhibition "Anita and Giuseppe Garibaldi", by the Casa América Association, curated by Raffaella Ponte; and, finally, "The Union of Italy to Brazil", made by MEI and curated by Fabio Porta.

The realization of "In Search of the New Land" in Espírito Santo do Pinhal has a special reason: it was in the city, as well as in neighboring Minas Gerais, that the first Italian families settled, contributing significantly to the development of coffee farming and marking the transition from a slave economy to a new system based on immigrant labor.

Speaking of Minas, Poços de Caldas will host the next stage of the exhibition, starting on August 1st.

The initiative was launched in 2024, during the celebrations of the 150th anniversary of Italian immigration to Brazil. The inauguration took place on the "Cruzeiro das Raízes", in partnership with Costa Cruzeiros, involving more than 1,500 participants in a symbolic trip that retraced the immigrants' sea crossing between Genoa and Santos.