Don Francesco Antonio Maria Matarazzo, Count Matarazzo (March 9, 1854 in

Castellabate Castellabate ( Cilentan: ''Castiellabbate'') is a town and ''comune'' in the province of Salerno in the Campania region of south-western Italy. History The area was inhabited since Upper Palaeolithic times. In early medieval times, the current ...

– December 10, 1937 in São Paulo,

Brazil Brazil ( pt, Brasil; ), officially the Federative Republic of Brazil (Portuguese: ), is the largest country in both South America and Latin America. At and with over 217 million people, Brazil is the world's fifth-largest country by area ...

), was an Italian-born Brazilian businessman who created a large business in

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, particularly in

Biography

He was born in

, Salerno, Italy, the eldest of Doctor Costabile Matarazzo's nine sons, and Mariangela Jovane. At the age of 26, when Italian emigration to Brazil was widespread, he moved to the city of Sorocaba,

São Paulo São Paulo (, ; Portuguese for ' Saint Paul') is the most populous city in Brazil, and is the capital of the state of São Paulo, the most populous and wealthiest Brazilian state, located in the country's Southeast Region. Listed by the Ga ...

with his brothers, wife and children. Initially he sold oranges and lottery tickets and shined shoes, reinvesting the proceeds in new businesses, eventually including plantations of tea, coffee, corn, rice, rubber and cotton. In 1890, he moved to the city of

and with his brothers, Giuseppe and Luigi, founded the company Matarazzo and Irmãos. He diversified its business and imported wheat flour from the

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territori ...

. Giuseppe took part in the company with a lard factory in

Porto Alegre Porto Alegre (, , Brazilian ; ) is the capital and largest city of the Brazilian state of Rio Grande do Sul. Its population of 1,488,252 inhabitants (2020) makes it the twelfth most populous city in the country and the center of Brazil's fif ...

and Luigi with a deposit-warehouse in São Paulo. The following year the company was dissolved and replaced by Companhia Matarazzo S.A. with 43 minority shareholders. This corporation also controlled the factories in Sorocaba and Porto Alegre. The outbreak of the

Spanish-American War Spanish Americans ( es, españoles estadounidenses, ''hispanoestadounidenses'', or ''hispanonorteamericanos'') are Americans whose ancestry originates wholly or partly from Spain. They are the longest-established European American group in th ...

made it difficult to buy wheat flour and he obtained credit from the London and Brazilian Bank to build a mill in São Paulo. From there, his business expanded rapidly to a total of 365 factories throughout Brazil. The conglomerate became the fourth largest in the country and 6% of the population depended on its factories in São Paulo. The business was renamed ''Indústrias Reunidas Francisco Matarazzo'' (IRFM) in 1911. The Gestapo spy Hans Wesemann reported that: In recognition of his financial and material assistance to Italy during the

First World War World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fightin ...

King

Victor Emmanuel III The name Victor or Viktor may refer to: * Victor (name), including a list of people with the given name, mononym, or surname Arts and entertainment Film * ''Victor'' (1951 film), a French drama film * ''Victor'' (1993 film), a French shor ...

granted him the title of

Count Count (feminine: countess) is a historical title of nobility in certain European countries, varying in relative status, generally of middling rank in the hierarchy of nobility. Pine, L. G. ''Titles: How the King Became His Majesty''. New York: ...

. Matarazzo died in 1937 after an attack of

uremia Uremia is the term for high levels of urea in the blood. Urea is one of the primary components of urine. It can be defined as an excess of amino acid and protein metabolism end products, such as urea and creatinine, in the blood that would be no ...

. At that time he was Brazil's richest man, with an estimated fortune of 20 billion U.S. dollars.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Matarazzo, Count Francesco 1854 births 1937 deaths Counts of Italy People from the Province of Salerno Brazilian businesspeople Italian businesspeople Italian emigrants to Brazil

Biography

See also

References