Villa Devoto is a neighborhood or district located in the northwestern area of the city of

Buenos Aires Buenos Aires ( or ; ), officially the Autonomous City of Buenos Aires ( es, link=no, Ciudad Autónoma de Buenos Aires), is the Capital city, capital and primate city of Argentina. The city is located on the western shore of the Río de la Plata ...

Argentina Argentina (), officially the Argentine Republic ( es, link=no, República Argentina), is a country in the southern half of South America. Argentina covers an area of , making it the second-largest country in South America after Brazil, t ...

. Its administrative limits are defined by Lope de Vega, General Paz, San Martín, and Francisco Beiró Avenues; and Joaquín V. González, Baigorría, and Campana streets. Villa Devoto, a primarily middle class to upscale neighborhood, is characterized by quiet tree-lined streets and is often considered as ''The Garden of Buenos Aires''. A lower-density, wealthy residential subsection known as ''

Devoto R Villa Devoto is a neighborhood or district located in the northwestern area of the city of Buenos Aires, Argentina. Its administrative limits are defined by Lope de Vega, General Paz, San Martín, and Francisco Beiró Avenues; and Joaquín V. Gonz� ...

'' is located around Arenales Square, in the ward's north-central section. Villa Devoto is served by the FC Urquiza and FC San Martín commuter railway lines.

History

Part of

General San Martín Partido General San Martín Partido is a partido in the Gran Buenos Aires urban area, immediately to the north-west of the Capital federal in Buenos Aires Province, Argentina. The provincial subdivision has a population of 422,830 inhabitants in an ar ...

until the

Federalization of Buenos Aires Federalization, in Argentine law, is the process of assigning federal status to a territory with the purpose of making that territory the national capital. Federalization of Buenos Aires politically separated the city from the Buenos Aires Provin ...

, the area was an

exurb An exurb (or alternately: exurban area) is an area outside the typically denser inner suburban area, at the edge of a metropolitan area, which has some economic and commuting connection to the metro area, low housing density, and growth. It ...

at the time and was known as ''Villa Gainza y Lynch''. A rail link was built by the Buenos Aires and Pacific Railway, which inaugurated Devoto Station in 1888. The district was named after Count

Antonio Devoto Conte Antonio Devoto OCI, OSSML, OML (12 March 1833 – 30 July 1916) was an Argentine entrepreneur, banker, philanthropist and politician born in Liguria. He is best known for being the owner of most of the lands in the current ''barrio'' of ...

, who became the landowner of most of the present day district in 1904. The Count Devoto was a member of the elite of Buenos Aires. King

Victor Emmanuel III of Italy Victor Emmanuel III (Vittorio Emanuele Ferdinando Maria Gennaro di Savoia; 11 November 1869 – 28 December 1947) was King of Italy from 29 July 1900 until his abdication on 9 May 1946. He also reigned as Emperor of Ethiopia (1936–1941) and ...

granted Devoto 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 Yor ...

in 1916 in gratitude for his assistance to the

Kingdom of Italy The Kingdom of Italy ( it, Regno d'Italia) was a state that existed from 1861, when Victor Emmanuel II of Sardinia was proclaimed King of Italy, until 1946, when civil discontent led to an institutional referendum to abandon the monarchy and ...

during

World War I World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was List of wars and anthropogenic disasters by death toll, one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, ...

; Devoto died a few months later. Devoto owned one of the largest mansions of Buenos Aires, known as Devoto Palace. The mansion was built by Italian architect Juan Antonio Buschiazzo, its 10,000 m² (107,000 ft²) decorated in bronze, silver and gold with ironwork forged in Italy, as well as Florentine

mosaic A mosaic is a pattern or image made of small regular or irregular pieces of colored stone, glass or ceramic, held in place by plaster/mortar, and covering a surface. Mosaics are often used as floor and wall decoration, and were particularly pop ...

s. Prince

Umberto di Savoia en, Albert Nicholas Thomas John Maria of Savoy , house = Savoy , father = Victor Emmanuel III of Italy , mother = Princess Elena of Montenegro , birth_date = , birth_place = Racconigi, Piedmont, Kingdom of Italy , dea ...

stayed there during a state visit in 1924. Devoto died before Buschiazzo's work was complete, and the mansion was demolished around 1940. He did not leave any descendants, and his remains lie at the Basílica of San Antonio de Padua in Villa Devoto. The Metropolitan Seminary of Buenos Aires, alma mater to many of Argentina's bishops and archbishops, was established in Villa Devoto in 1899; among its alumni was the future

Pope Francis Pope Francis ( la, Franciscus; it, Francesco; es, link=, Francisco; born Jorge Mario Bergoglio, 17 December 1936) is the head of the Catholic Church. He has been the bishop of Rome and sovereign of the Vatican City State since 13 March 2013. ...

. The Devoto Penitentiary, the city's sole remaining jail, was established in 1927. The ward became a

bedroom community A commuter town is a populated area that is primarily residential rather than commercial or industrial. Routine travel from home to work and back is called commuting, which is where the term comes from. A commuter town may be called by many o ...

in later decades, as well as home to a sizable

English Argentine English Argentines (also known as Anglo-Argentines) are citizens of Argentina or the children of Argentine citizens brought up in Argentina, who can claim ancestry originating in England. The English settlement in Argentina (the arrival of Eng ...

and American expatriate community; a Garden Club was established by the English-speaking community in 1978.

Sports

Villa Devoto is home to the

General Lamadrid General Lamadrid is a town in Buenos Aires Province Buenos Aires (), officially the Buenos Aires Province (''Provincia de Buenos Aires'' ), is the largest and most populous Argentine province. It takes its name from the city of Buenos Aires, t ...

soccer club.

Landmarks

Personalities

* Jorge Bergoglio, the 266th and current

Pope The pope ( la, papa, from el, πάππας, translit=pappas, 'father'), also known as supreme pontiff ( or ), Roman pontiff () or sovereign pontiff, is the bishop of Rome (or historically the patriarch of Rome), head of the worldwide Cathol ...

of the Catholic Church studied in 1958 at the Metropolitan Seminary of Villa Devoto. The following have all been residents of Villa Devoto: *

Olegario Víctor Andrade Olegario Víctor Andrade (1839–1882) was an Argentine journalist, poet and politician, who was born in Brazil Brazil ( pt, Brasil; ), officially the Federative Republic of Brazil (Portuguese: ), is the largest country in both South Ame ...

, poet *Josemaría Listorti, TV comedian *

Diego Maradona Diego Armando Maradona (; 30 October 196025 November 2020) was an Argentine professional football player and manager. Widely regarded as one of the greatest players in the history of the sport, he was one of the two joint winners of the FI ...

, footballer *

Mario Pergolini Mario Daniel Pergolini (born July 3, 1964, in Buenos Aires) is an Argentine journalist, media producer and businessman, best known as the former main host of the television show ''Caiga Quien Caiga'' (''CQC'') broadcast on Argentina's Telefe. ...

, TV producer *

Gabriela Sabatini Gabriela Beatriz Sabatini (; born 16 May 1970) is an Argentine-Italian former professional tennis player. A former world No. 3 in both singles and doubles, Sabatini was one of the leading players from the mid-1980s to the mid-1990s, amassing 41 ...

, tennis player

History

Sports

Landmarks

Personalities

See also

External links