home to about thirteen thousand residents, Vidigal is known as the chic and illustrious favela of Rio de Janeiro - due largely to a rapid and ongoing process of gentrification and  its extremely privileged location. between the affluent neighborhoods of leblon and sao conrado in the south zone of the city.

The favela began to take shape in the early 20th Century, named after Miguel Nunes Vidigal, a member of the Royal Guard Police Force who originally owned the land. The first houses were built in 1911, and by the 1950s there were nearly 1300 residents.

The subsequent urban expansion of ipanema and leblon, as well as surrounding commerce, in the 60s and 70s, resulted in a concomitant boom in Vidigal. In the 1970s, the favela community earned itself a lasting legacy of strong resistance to government removal, vowing to resolve the local problems as opposed to relocating somewhere else.