Vidigal is known as the chic and illustrious favela of Rio de Janeiro - due largely to a rapid and ongoing process of gentrification and to an extremely privileged location.

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 huts 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 population 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.