at a glance

vila isabel is a neighborhood located in the north zone (zona norte) of rio de janeiro, nearby bairros (neighborhoods) are tijuca, grajaú, andaraí, maracanã e eng. novo - many believe that the neighborhood of vila isabel is the birthplace of samba.

the bairro's humble origin began with the fazenda do macaco (monkey`s farm), a large area within the borders of rio joana (joana river), the former caminho do cabuçu (cabuçu road) - now the rua barão do bom retiro (barão do bom retiro street) and the serra do engenho novo (engenho novo mountains).

during his stay in rio de janeiro, dom pedro i (emperor peter i of brazil) presented the plantation to his empress dona amélia de beauharnais, duquesa de bragança (duchess of bragança) as a gift - the property was later abandoned, when dom pedro returned to mainland portugal.