Business and Transmission of “Knowledge”: Italian Migration to Brasil

The desire and the ability to innovate starts with people who share their own path and then, through knowledge, become a bridge to create new relationships. The company can be considered as a complex of interdependencies between goods and people who work by exchanging knowledge and production with the outside world pursuing the same goal, namely the production of value, and among these "knowledge". As stated Adriano Olivetti, creator of the Olivetti company, whose activity has crossed national borders and occupies an important place as an example among the various Italian companies that have transferred their knowledge, the company cannot only be profit creation but must take on different roles and distribute not only wealth but also culture, services, knowledge. This paper aims to focus on the transmission of knowledge that Italian emigration has brought to Latin America: Brazil will constitute the non-European countries on which the analysis of Italian businesses and migration will be concentrated, trying to understand what kind of "knowing” has taken root and what it produced. The stories of some important Italian entrepreneurs who emigrated to Brazil will be presented, highlighting the innovations that their businesses have brought and what is still left of their work today. Some noteworthy scholars who specialized in the history of Brazil, such as Furtado and Prado, affirm that, together with coffee, the entry of immigrants was equally crucial for the development of the nation’s industry. The expatriates were either colonos or farmers. The former can be considered the very first entrepreneurs, whose products were sold in urban centers near their colonies, making them responsible for their territories’ development. The latter, instead, were the fazendeiros’ employees, whose wages were spent on the items they needed. Some of them, once earned a sufficient amount of capital, started their own businesses, which were mostly farms whose perishables were sold for the domestic market. Other immigrants ventured into the cities, continuing to work as subordinates or, in some cases, setting up manufacturing factories or stores. In the most famous books on the economic formation of Brazil, all the authors agree that the main actors for the industrialization of the nation were the Italians. According to some documents from the early twentieth century, in 1904, in the city of Ribeirão Preto there were six factories, all belonging to families with Italian surnames. In addition to the numerous small family businesses, there were also some striking cases. The state of São Paulo, between the nineteenth and twentieth centuries, was characterized by the exclusive production of coffee. Brazil was an exporter of agri-food commodities, whose high revenues made it possible for landowners to accumulate capital. These funds were subsequently used to initiate the country’s industrial process. In fact, until the early 1930s, Brazil had not yet developed any industry, thus having to import all finished goods. Nonetheless, at the end of the nineteenth century, the Minister of Finance Ruy Barbosa created some secondary legislations with the aim of using the landowners’ resources to start some businesses. Simultaneously, he also reduced customs duties since machinery had to arrive from abroad to start producing. In this way, the first factories began to appear, although of little importance and in small amounts. At the same time, however, a modest number of new immigrants also started setting up their own enterprises. Among them, there were some exceptional cases, such as the one of Francesco Matarazzo, defined as the father of the Brazilian national industry. Francesco Matarazzo’s corporation is one of the most important industrial cases of the business history of South America. In fact, as a destitute person, through his foresight and entrepreneurial skills, he managed to build a commercial empire. Nonetheless, he was not the only one to mark the history of Brazil. While he was growing his business, another future giant of entrepreneurship arrived in the state of São Paulo: Giuseppe Martinelli. He came from Tuscany, and was born in Lucca in 1870. The Martinelli Brothers group, which built the first skyscraper of South America, named after them. before the end of the nineteenth century, he moved to Santos and worked for the Fiaccadori Brothers corporation, a group that dealt with customs operations. Upon his brother’s arrival from Italy, Giuseppe decided to found with him the Martinelli Brothers. Thanks to his previous job, he realized that there was a lot of potential of business growth in the shipping industry. Francesco Matarazzo and Giuseppe Martinelli represent entrepreneurial cases of magnificent success among the Italian immigrants of Brazil. The former came from a small village in Campania, a region of southern Italy. The latter, instead, came from a medieval town of Tuscany, in the center of the peninsula. Both belonged to wealthy families and emigrated by their own choice, paying their own transoceanic ticket and taking care personally of their first occupation and dwelling. Nonetheless, this form of immigration was not the norm. In fact, it was much more common for Italians to be seduced by migration agents to expatriate to Brazil through the payment of their transfer and the certainty of receiving a work contract once they arrived in their promised land. Among the millions of Italians who moved to South America in this way, the Eberle family must be mentioned. They came from northern Italy, and headed to a colony founded by Venetians in the state of Rio Grande do Sul. They constitute the third case of great entrepreneurial success that has marked the economic history of Brazil, leaving behind a legacy that still exists today. Although these are the oldest and most known cases, the Italians immigrants, who continued to emigrate during and after the era of Vargas, kept opening basic industries needed for the industrialization and development of Brazil. Therefore, the immigrants of the past have been vital for the economic and industrial development of Brazil. The number of Italians who immigrated to Brazil from 1880 to 1930 is noteworthy. About one and a half million Italian immigrants decided to relocate to the South American country in this period of time, representing the second most widespread nationality after the Portuguese one. Their presence was massive particularly in certain areas of Brazil. In fact, in the first decades, immigrants were directed to the southern macro-region with the purpose of founding towns. Here, especially in the state of Rio Grande do Sul and in the southern regions of Santa Catarina, entire territories were inhabited exclusively by Italians. Later, however, the new immigrants were sent to work in the fazendas located in the southeastern macro-region. In this case, the state of São Paulo received the largest number of Italians. Without their entrepreneurship, desire to improve, and foresight, this process would have happened much later. In addition to the economy, they have also contributed to society, greatly influencing Brazilian culture in terms of values, language, cuisine, religion, and ethics. Italian immigrants were among the most important nationalities for Brazil and their contribution is still valued and remembered today. Although in recent decades the reverse phenomenon has been taking place, especially with the arrival of the oriundi, many entrepreneurs and many Italian companies continue to invest and do business in Brazil, thanks to the advantages arisen from the cultural bond of these two nations.