São João Batista (SC) and Sassello Sign Friendship Pact in Italy

The mayor of Sassello, Gian Marco Scasso, formalized this Tuesday (01/09) the terms of a Friendship Pact with the municipality of São João Batista, in Santa Catarina. The document marks the beginning of procedures for a future gemellaggio agreement — the sister city twinning traditionally practiced in Italy — and rescues a historical connection dating back to 19th-century Italian immigration, according to Comunità Italiana.

What was signed between São João Batista and Sassello

The Friendship Pact formalized by Scasso establishes the institutional foundations for São João Batista and Sassello to advance, in the coming months, toward an official gemellaggio agreement. This type of pact is common between Italian municipalities and cities abroad that share historical ties, usually linked to past migratory flows.

In the Santa Catarina case, the signing is not an isolated symbolic gesture, but the result of an approximation process that had been building for at least two years, with genealogical research and an institutional mission to Liguria.

The historical root of the connection between Santa Catarina and Liguria

The relationship between the two cities originates in 1836, when 186 immigrants left Europe for Santa Catarina. Of this group, 132 pioneers founded Colônia Nova Itália, a settlement that gave rise to the current city of São João Batista.

Genealogical research conducted in recent years identified at least two pioneering families from this colony as originating from Sassello, in the interior of the Liguria region. Records of immigrants such as Antonia Bozzano and Maria Catharina Bovo have helped historians reconstruct this trajectory, uniting civil and ecclesiastical documentation produced in both Brazil and Italy.

This type of discovery is increasingly common among descendant families seeking to deepen their history — many of them also motivated by interest in Italian Citizenship processes, since reconstructing the line of descent requires precisely locating records like those that grounded the research in São João Batista.

Research and rescue of pioneering families' memory

The historical reconstruction work is conducted by Santa Catarina researchers Marcia Peixer and Caroline Cavilha dos Santos Hashimoto, who have been mapping civil and ecclesiastical documents directly in Italy. According to Comunità Italiana, the research objective goes beyond tracing family trees: it seeks to expand knowledge about female participation in Italian colonization in Santa Catarina, an aspect historically less documented in traditional immigration narratives.

This type of survey, which crosses parish records, baptism certificates, and Italian civil documents, is similar to the process faced by descendants who today seek a search for certificates in Italy to support Italian citizenship recognition requests — work that depends directly on the precision of Italian municipal and ecclesiastical archives.

Cooperation agenda planned for the next five years

The agreement being built between São João Batista and Sassello foresees a five-year horizon of cooperation, with actions focused on academic, tourism, and historical records preservation areas.

Among the fronts under evaluation is a possible partnership between ADANPIB (Association of Descendants and Friends Nova Itália Pro-Immigration Brazil) and the Liguri nel Mondo association, an entity that brings together Ligurians scattered around the world. A cooperation agreement between Univali (University of the Itajaí Valley) and the University of Genoa, capital of the Liguria region, is also being analyzed, which could open space for academic exchanges and joint research projects.

The path to the pact signed this week was paved by an institutional mission held in Sassello in November 2024, when Santa Catarina representatives were in the Italian city for the first contacts that resulted in the now-formalized agreement.

National recognition and celebration at Festa Lígure

The pact with Sassello comes at a strategic moment for São João Batista, which already claims the title of "National Capital of Italian Immigration" through PL 9.811/2018, currently under consideration in the Chamber of Deputies. The municipality has held this recognition at the state level since 2018, and the formal approach with a city of origin of the immigrant founders themselves tends to reinforce the historical argument of the request at the federal level.

The announcement of the Friendship Pact occurred during the 7th edition of Festa Lígure di Novitália, a celebration that rescues the traditions of the Liguria region in the Santa Catarina city. The festival program includes, this Sunday (06/09), the inauguration of a new entrance portal to Colônia Nova Itália, a symbolic landmark that reinforces the identity of the neighborhood founded by the 1836 immigrants.

Cases like São João Batista show how interest in family roots in Italy continues to mobilize entire communities in Brazil, far beyond the individual sphere of citizenship processes. To follow other developments in this relationship between Brazil and Italy, Raízes Italianas maintains permanent coverage in Italy News and Life in Italy.

Want to know if you have the right to Italian citizenship? Speak with a specialized advisory.

Source: Comunità Italiana