Bela Vista is one of the most traditional Italian

Italy

Italy , officially the Italian Republic languages]] under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In each of these, Italy's official name is as follows:;;;;;;;;), is a unitary parliamentary republic in South-Central Europe. To the north it borders France, Switzerland, Austria and...

 neighborhoods in the city of São Paulo

São Paulo

São Paulo is the largest city in Brazil, the largest city in the southern hemisphere and South America, and the world's seventh largest city by population. The metropolis is anchor to the São Paulo metropolitan area, ranked as the second-most populous metropolitan area in the Americas and among...

, Brazil. It belongs to the borough of Sé

Sé (São Paulo)

Sé is the name of the most central borough in the city of São Paulo, in Brazil, divided in eight districts. The name comes from the presence of São Paulo Cathedral in the borough, and it is also the name of the central square...

, and it has been a mixed neighborhood since its beginning, where free African-Brazilians and/or a mixture of Native-Brazilians, Blacks and Portuguese descendants lived. Later, more European immigrants arrived, such as Spaniards, Germans, English, French, Belgians, and Italians. The Italian community became more numerous than all the others during the first decades of the 20th century. (source: São Paulo sections site: Bairros de São Paulo)

Entertainment

Bela Vista hosts a large number of Italian cantinas or eateries, restaurant and/or delicatessens.Renowned theaters, such as the state-funded Teatro Sergio Cardoso and few smaller ones on Rua dos Ingleses/Morro dos Ingleses and Avenida 9 de Julho area, such as the teatros Bibi Ferreira and Maria Della Costa. Most theatres nowadays tend to concentrate on Avenida Brigadeiro Luis Antonio with Teatro Abril being the most important venue of musical presentations such as Miss Saigon

Miss Saigon

Miss Saigon is a musical by Claude-Michel Schönberg and Alain Boublil, with lyrics by Boublil and Richard Maltby, Jr.. It is based on Giacomo Puccini's opera Madame Butterfly, and similarly tells the tragic tale of a doomed romance involving an Asian woman abandoned by her American lover...

, Beauty and the Beast

Beauty and the Beast (musical)

Beauty and the Beast is a musical with music by Alan Menken, lyrics by Howard Ashman and Tim Rice and a book by Linda Woolverton, based on the 1991 Disney film of the same name. Seven new songs were written for the stage musical...

, and The Phantom of the Opera

The Phantom of the Opera (1986 musical)

The Phantom of the Opera is a musical by Andrew Lloyd Webber, based on the French novel Le Fantôme de l'Opéra by Gaston Leroux.The music was composed by Lloyd Webber, and most lyrics were written by Charles Hart, with additional lyrics by Richard Stilgoe. Alan Jay Lerner was an early collaborator,...

. Towards the end of the 20th century, parts of Bexiga became more decadent and dilapidated because its more affluent middle-class moved to newer areas in the suburbs. Although most of the clubs and bars moved from Bela Vista to Itaim Bibi and Vila Madalena in the late 1980s and mid 1990s, Bexiga still has a somewhat vibrant nightlife and is the home of many descendants of Italians and young professionals and students that enjoy the urban atmosphere and the Avenida Paulista

Avenida Paulista

Paulista Avenue is one of the most important avenues in São Paulo, Brazil...

 area nearby. Bela Vista is also the home of the Vai-Vai Samba School, the oldest one in São Paulo.

Church

Our Lady Achiropita Roman Catholic church on Rua 13 de Maio is an important charity and cultural center in the neighborhood. Famous for the Achiropita procession and the street Italian food fair all weekends in August, the community caters to the needs of poor children and their families in the section and promotes integration of diversity into worship, by adding an African-Brazilian flavor to its masses and baptismal ceremonies (source: Nossa Senhora Achiropita site).

Hospitals

The Menino Jesus (Infant Jesus) children's hospital, the Perola Byington women's hospital, The German Osvaldo Cruz hospital, the Hospital Paulistano, Hospital Santa Catarina and Hospital Sirio-Libanes—a cardiovascular and cancer reference institutions,-- as well as vaccine institutes such as the Instituto Pasteur on Avenida Paulista, and other important laboratories and clinics are located in the Bela Vista region.

Education

Higher education institutions such as Fundacao Getulio Vargas School of Business and Administration, Colegio Objectivo, the Centro Universitario Ibero-Americano, and elite private schools also make their home in Bela Vista, which claims parts of the Avenida Paulista's São Paulo financial center as within its jurisdiction.

Shopping

The Paulista shopping mall, Extra hipermercado, and the Pao de Acucar market chain also make their home in the Bela Vista/Av. Paulista/Paraiso/Jardim Paulista region.

Nickname

Bela Vista is also known as "Bexiga" ou "Bixiga." The saying goes that an infection of the bladder ("bexiga" in Portuguese) was common in the section in the late 19th century and beginning of the 20th century when it still had a few farms, and residents were labeled with that pejorative. Others say that an Italian or Portuguese resident known for drinking at the taverns of Bela Vista until late night, had a belly as round and big as a party balloon (also "bexiga" in Portuguese), so, the section was nicknamed after him!

Festival

Until recently, the Bela Vista community organized the celebration of the anniversity of the City of São Paulo by offering a huge long cake to the population, measuring the age of São Paulo for each year in the metric system. Lack of funding and greed on the part of revellers who grabbed chunks of the cake and stuffed tupperware containers to take home, which made the cake disappear in seconds, seem to have stopped the annual event on January 25, the Catholic feast of the Conversion of Paul, the apostle, and anniversity of the foundation of São Paulo de Pirapitininga by chief Tibirica' & the Spanish Jesuits Anchieta and Nobrega. (sources: Cyrillo, a São Paulo native who lived in Bela Vista; O Globo Online & Folha de São Paulo news 2009)