Florianópolis is the capital and the second largest city of Santa Catarina state in the Southern region of Brazil. The first city is Joinville which we drove through on our way to Florianópolis.

Florianopólis is composed of one main island, the Island of Santa Catarina (Ilha de Santa Catarina), a continental part and several small islands. The name is a tribute to the second President of Brazil (1891-1894) Marshal Floriano Peixoto. The Brasilians like to use the Greek word “Polis” which mean city, to name their cities (i.e. Petropolis)

Around 1514 the Portuguese landed in the area and gave the main island the name of Ilha dos Patos, but in 1526 it was renamed Ilha de Santa Catarina. The area was then occupied by the Carijós Indians.

We spent 3 days in Santa Catarina Island in a nice resort at Lagoa da Conceição. We visited the villages of Santo António de Lisboa and Ribeirão da Ilha which provided good examples of the presence of the people from the Açores islands.

Between 1747 and 1756 about 6,000 settlers arrived from the Archipelago of Açores and from Madeira Islands. The development of the agriculture, the cotton and linen industry and the commerce followed the Azorean occupation.

Ribeirão da Ilha, is the oldest part of the capital and the inhabitants still speak the Açorean dialect which is difficult to understand even for Portuguese speaking people. In Ribeirão da Ilha in 1806 they built the church of Our Lady of Lapa do Ribeirão, which we visited.

One interesting aspect of the city is the old Hercilio Luz Bridge. Now out of service, in very poor state of disrepair and almost collapsing and an eye sore in a beautiful scenery. I read in one of the local paper that they are attempting to repair it but as usual in Brazil the project is plagued by claims of corruption. In the same paper I read that Florianópolis is beating the crisis that affects Brazil (and the rest of the world) due to the diversified economy of the state.

Nossa Senhora da Lapa do Ribeirão

Typical Açorean house