From Dream to Reality: records of a journey
A partnership between the Archivio Storico Diplomatico del Ministero degli Affari Esteri e della Cooperazione Internazionale and the Immigration Museum of the State of São Paulo
Italian immigration left many marks of its influence, yet the early challenges of this process are little known. Questions about the organization of travel and the routes traveled motivated the selection of this collection of unpublished documents from the early 20th century.
On the occasion of the 150th anniversary of the beginning of Italian migration to Brazil, the Historical and Diplomatic Archives of the Italian Ministry of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation decided to make the most of this documentation in cooperation with the documentary and iconographic collection of the São Paulo Immigration Museum.
This digital exhibition aims to be the starting point of this partnership.
Photo of Italian woman and baby for passport (1923)Immigration Museum of the State of São Paulo
Diagram showing departures from the port of Trieste (1926)Immigration Museum of the State of São Paulo
Politiche di immigrazione (Immigration Policy)
Faced with the significant growth in the number of Italian emigrants at the end of the 19th century and the inherent political and diplomatic issues surrounding the phenomenon, the government of the Kingdom of Italy began to implement migration control measures.
Telegram with statistics on entries and exits from the emigrants’ shelter in Naples (1916)Immigration Museum of the State of São Paulo
A succession of complaints in the Italian press about the treatment of Italian workers in Brazil, including mistreatment, physical punishment, disease on farms and lack of payments, led the Italian government to create the General Commissariat of Emigration.
Bulletin with data on italian emigration to Brazil (1902)Immigration Museum of the State of São Paulo
The body's main function would be to guarantee the integrity of Italian emigrants, prevent illegal migration and ensure their rights.
Documents linked to the Commission and its actions, currently safeguarded by the Archivio Storico Diplomatico del Ministero degli Affari Esteri e della Cooperazione Internazionale, reveal that concerns existed before, during and after the migration process.
Statistics of migrants from September to December 1902 (1902)Immigration Museum of the State of São Paulo
Among the measures promoted by the CGE in 1902, through the Prinetti Decree, subsidized migration to Brazil was prohibited. Before that, Italian immigrants could have their travel expenses paid by the São Paulo government in order to encourage them to come to the country.
Statistics of emigrant departures from Italian ports to the Americas between September and December 1901 (1901)Immigration Museum of the State of São Paulo
The law also sought to curb the activities of recruitment agents linked to shipping companies on Italian soil. Despite suspicions revealed in documents, the Brazilian government denied the presence of official recruitment agents in Italy.
Diagram showing departures from the port of Trieste (1926)Immigration Museum of the State of São Paulo
Although the Prinetti Decree did not prohibit spontaneous migration, the Commissariat's actions led to a reduction in the number of Italian immigrants on São Paulo's coffee farms. This triggered a series of measures in Brazil to reverse the Decree.
Dormitory of the Immigrant Hostelry of Brás (1930/1939) by UnknownImmigration Museum of the State of São Paulo
These measures are reflected in the administrative documents of the former Brás Immigrant Hostel in São Paulo. The building, built in 1886, received and sent thousands of Italian workers to the interior of the state of São Paulo.
Migrants answering the questionnaire of the Registration Book at the Hostelry of Brás (1930/1939) by UnknownImmigration Museum of the State of São Paulo
The measures taken to convince the Italian government that the State would be able to welcome and treat workers with dignity included greater control over enrollment and sanitary measures, all of which were widely publicized in advertisements for the Hospedaria's facilities and services.
Emigrant House
For those who wanted to migrate, records indicate the existence of accommodations for stays, food, screening and health checks in the days leading up to the trip.
Rules of conduct at the migrants’ shelter (1926)Immigration Museum of the State of São Paulo
These accommodations are described as Casa Emigranti (Emigrant Houses). Analyzing the services and resources offered by these accommodations at Italian ports of departure and the Immigrant Hostels in Brazil and the Americas, they resemble each other as spaces of control and inspection.
Rules of conduct at the Brás Immigrants’ Shelter (2025)Immigration Museum of the State of São Paulo
With its own rules of coexistence preserved in documents or highlighted in Italian on the wall, as in the Old Immigrant Hostel of Brás.
Some of the documents present the detailed menu of food served to migrants during the period they would spend in the accommodations.
Food menu at the shelter (1926)Immigration Museum of the State of São Paulo
Analysis of the documents reveals the existence of multiple reimbursement resources for travelers denied exit, indicating the presence of legal safeguards and mechanisms to protect migrants' rights.
La traversata (The crossing)
Among the actions of the Emigration Commission were care during travel on steamships, on trips that could last up to thirty days on the high seas.
Considered spaces for collective living, the ships required strict sanitary measures to prevent the spread of diseases during the crossing.
Measures that eventually proved insufficient, many did not complete the journey.
The routes were overseen by an authority called a Traveling Commissioner; the documents analyzed contain minutes produced during the journeys between Italy and South America.
Technical drawing of the multi-use bed project for ships (1905)Immigration Museum of the State of São Paulo
Detailed reports on weather, sanitation, accommodations and food, as well as crew assessments, onboard crime, nautical data, ship's technical condition, and stowaways.
The photograph illustrates an ingenious piece of iron furniture with a dual function: a bed for resting and, when folded up, it served as a table for meals or other activities, aiming to optimize space on board.
Chart with departure dates from Italian ports (1926)Immigration Museum of the State of São Paulo
A highlight is the elegant advertising panel that displays general information about trips to South America in 1926, including destination cities, stopover dates, and the different steamers.
Schedule of ship departures from Italian ports during December 1926 (1926)Immigration Museum of the State of São Paulo
The presence of rigid data on the dates of call at the different ports along the way indicates that the information was previously known before the purchase of the travel tickets.
Giuseppe Celante’s travel ticket (1923)Immigration Museum of the State of São Paulo
The travel ticket, another symbol of the bureaucracy involved in migration processes, was kept throughout the ship's journey and even after disembarking in the destination country, proving that the migrant had paid for their own passage.
Quando finisce il Viaggio? (When does the journey end?)
Disembarking at the port of Santos marked only the end of one stage of the journey: the sea crossing. For the immigrant, the migration process could be complex and multifaceted.
Italian workers in Olaria (1912)Immigration Museum of the State of São Paulo
Even in Italy, promises of a better life, abundant wealth, and fertile land were propagated in posters and leaflets as a way to recruit Italians for coffee work. The reality of life after disembarking, however, was very different from these promises.
Italian workers on an orange plantation (1900)Immigration Museum of the State of São Paulo
After disembarking, they were moved to farms in the interior of the state, where many faced exhausting working conditions, low wages, systematic debts and violence, which led to attempts to escape from the farms.
There were countless requests for repatriation and rejections by the State itself. Among the documents collected are numerical lists of those who returned to Italy out of disillusionment, immigrants rejected due to physical conditions, illness, and widows.
Train station in the Immigrant Hostelry of Brás (1930/1939) by UnknownImmigration Museum of the State of São Paulo
For those who remained, there would be longing for their homeland, the struggle and the constant search for the dreamed-of better life, a yearning that would remain alive, just like the constant movement of the migratory process itself.
GOVERNMENT OF THE STATE OF SÃO PAULO
Tarcísio de Freitas
Governor
Felicio Ramuth
Vice Governor
Marília Marton
Secretary of Culture, Economy and Creative Industry
DIPLOMATIC HISTORICAL ARCHIVE OF THE MINISTRY OF FOREIGN AFFAIRS OF ITALY
INSTITUTE FOR THE PRESERVATION AND DISSEMINATION OF THE HISTORY OF COFFEE AND IMMIGRATION
Alessandra Almeida
Executive Director
Thiago Santos
Administrative Director
Caroline Feijo Nóbrega
Communications Manager and Institutional Development
Daniel Correa
Administrative Manager
César Pimenta
Infrastructure Coordinator
Henrique Trindade
Educational and Training Coordinator
DAL SOGNO ALLA REALTÀ: RECORDS OF A JOURNEY
Curatorship and Collection Research:
Antonio Freddi
Andrezza Bicudo
Bianca Alves
Gabriela Araújo
Henrique Trindade
Nicole Alexsandra
Texts and Production:
Gabriela Araújo
Special thanks to all the teams at the São Paulo State Immigration Museum, whose collaboration has always been fundamental during this and so many other projects.
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