Bento Ribeiro is a middle-class neighborhood in the
North Zone of
Rio de Janeiro
Rio de Janeiro, or simply Rio, is the capital of the Rio de Janeiro (state), state of Rio de Janeiro. It is the List of cities in Brazil by population, second-most-populous city in Brazil (after São Paulo) and the Largest cities in the America ...
,
Brazil
Brazil, officially the Federative Republic of Brazil, is the largest country in South America. It is the world's List of countries and dependencies by area, fifth-largest country by area and the List of countries and dependencies by population ...
. It is a suburban area in the vicinity of
Marechal Hermes and
Oswaldo Cruz
Oswaldo Gonçalves Cruz (; August 5, 1872 – February 11, 1917), was a Brazilian physician, pioneer bacteriologist, epidemiology, epidemiologist and public health officer and the founder of the Instituto Oswaldo Cruz, Oswaldo Cruz Institute.
...
and
Vila Valqueire. Bento Ribeiro owes its name to
Bento Manuel Ribeiro Carneiro Monteiro, mayor of Rio de Janeiro between 1910 and 1914. It is the birthplace of the professional
football
Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kick (football), kicking a football (ball), ball to score a goal (sports), goal. Unqualified, football (word), the word ''football'' generally means the form of football t ...
player
Ronaldo and the place where the famous television host
Xuxa
Maria da Graça Xuxa Meneghel ( , ; born Maria da Graça Meneghel on 27 March 1963) is a Brazilian TV host, actress, singer, and businesswoman. Nicknamed "The Queen of Children", Xuxa built the largest Latin and South American children's ente ...
lived in her childhood.
Former president of Brazil Jair Bolsonaro also lived in the neighborhood. After being elected councilman in Rio de Janeiro,
Jair Bolsonaro
Jair Messias Bolsonaro (; born 21 March 1955) is a Brazilian politician and former military officer who served as the 38th president of Brazil from 2019 to 2023. He previously served as a member of Brazil's Chamber of Deputies (Brazil), Chamb ...
chose to acquire a residence on
Divisória Street, located in Bento Ribeiro. It was at this address that he shared his home with his wife, Rogéria Nantes, and their three children,
Flávio,
Carlos, and
Eduardo, until around the mid-1990s when the family moved to
Tijuca
Tijuca () (meaning marsh or swamp in the Tupi language, from ''ty'' ("water") and ''îuk'' ("rotten")) is a neighbourhood of the Rio de Janeiro#North Zone, Northern Zone of the city of Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. It comprises the region of Saens P ...
.
With a little over 300 hectares in total, Bento Ribeiro's origins trace back to a railway station established in 1914, during the final year of the general's term as mayor of the former federal capital. Both
the station and the neighborhood were named after him. The area saw an influx of Italian and Portuguese immigrants, contributing to its population growth. Presently, Bento Ribeiro is home to over 40,000 residents.
References
{{Authority control
Neighbourhoods in Rio de Janeiro (city)