Bela Vista (district of São Paulo)

Bela Vista (also known as Bexiga or Bixiga) is one of the most traditional Italian neighborhoods in the city of São Paulo, Brazil. It belongs to the borough of Sé, 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 twentieth century. (source: São Paulo sections site: Bairros de São Paulo)