Itu is a historic city and municipality in the state of

São Paulo São Paulo (; ; Portuguese for 'Paul the Apostle, Saint Paul') is the capital of the São Paulo (state), state of São Paulo, as well as the List of cities in Brazil by population, most populous city in Brazil, the List of largest cities in the ...

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 part of the

Metropolitan Region of Sorocaba The Metropolitan Region of Sorocaba () is an administrative division of the state of São Paulo in Brazil. It was created in 2014, and consists of the following municipalities: *Alambari * Alumínio *Araçariguama * Araçoiaba da Serra *Boituva * C ...

. The population was 175,568 as of 2020, in an area of 640.72 km². The elevation is 583 m. This place name comes from the

Tupi language Old Tupi, Ancient Tupi or Classical Tupi () is a classical Tupian language which was spoken by the indigenous Tupi people of Brazil, mostly those who inhabited coastal regions in South and Southeast Brazil. In the words of Brazilian tupinol ...

, meaning ''big waterfall''. Two rivers flow through Itu: Tietê and

Jundiaí Jundiaí is a Municipalities of Brazil, municipality in the state of São Paulo (state), São Paulo, in the Southeast Region, Brazil, Southeast Region of Brazil, located north of São Paulo. The population of the city is 443,221, with an area ...

. Itu has five hospitals, eleven bank agencies and one shopping center, the Plaza Shopping Itu. Itu was founded in 1610 by ''

bandeirante ''Bandeirantes'' (; ; singular: ''bandeirante'') were settlers in colonial Brazil who participated in expeditions to expand the colony's borders and subjugate indigenous peoples during the early modern period. They played a major role in exp ...

'' Domingos Fernandes. It became a parish in 1653. In 1657, it was elevated to a town and municipality. It became a part of

in 1822. It became a city in 1843. It is the 46th most populous municipality in the

state of São Paulo State most commonly refers to: * State (polity), a centralized political organization that regulates law and society within a territory **Sovereign state, a sovereign polity in international law, commonly referred to as a country **Nation state, a ...

and the 174th in

, in addition to being the second largest city in the Sorocaba Metropolitan Region, behind only

Sorocaba Sorocaba () is a municipality in the interior of the state of São Paulo, Brazil. With over 723,000 inhabitants, it is the seventh-largest city in the state and the second-largest outside the Greater São Paulo region, ranking behind only Cam ...

Geography

Its climate is subtropical, temperatures varies from 16° and 22°. The summer is warm and dry, and the winters are moderately cold and dry. It is located between the crystalline plateau and sedimentary areas.

Demographics

Population history

According to the 2000

IBGE The Brazilian Institute of Geography and Statistics (; IBGE) is the agency responsible for official collection of statistical, geographic, cartographic, geodetic and environmental information in Brazil. IBGE performs a decennial national cen ...

Census, the population was 136,366, of which 123,942 are urban and 11,424 are rural. The average life expectancy was 71.53 years. The literacy rate was at 92.53%.

Transportation

The main roads passing through the municipality are: * SP-75 * SP-79 * SP-300 * SP-308 * SP-312

Tourism

Itu was the birthplace of nationally-known comedian Simplicio, whose catchphrase was "back home in Itu everything is bigger". This led to the city becoming known as the "capital of large things", with a number of oversized objects being constructed there. The town's "exaggerations" include a 4m tall yellow pay phone called "orelhão", an oversized street light, a giant car tire (which was set on fire) and a mast decorated with a star, claimed to be the world's tallest artificial Christmas tree. With the increase in domestic tourism the infrastructure soon developed to attract foreign visitors as well as international meetings, seminars and congress events. In 1999 and 2003 the

Seventh Day Adventist Reform Movement The Seventh Day Adventist Reform Movement is a Protestant Christian denomination in the Sabbatarian Adventist movement that formed from a schism in the European Seventh-day Adventist Church during World War I over the position its European church ...

held their international delegation session in Itu bringing people from over 80 countries to the city at each event.

Media

In telecommunications, the city was served by

Companhia Telefônica Brasileira Companhia Telefônica Brasileira (CTB) was a Brazilian fixed-line telephone company that provided services to the states of Rio de Janeiro (state), Rio de Janeiro and São Paulo (state), São Paulo, as well as Minas Gerais and Espírito Santo thr ...

until 1973, when it began to be served by Telecomunicações de São Paulo. In July 1998, this company was acquired by Telefónica, which adopted the Vivo brand in 2012. The company is currently an operator of cell phones, fixed lines, internet (fiber optics/4G) and television (satellite and cable).

Notable people

Marcelo Chierighini Marcelo Chierighini (born 15 January 1991) is a Brazilian competitive swimmer. In the 100 metre freestyle, he was an Olympic finalist at the Rio 2016 Games, and four times in a row a finalist at the World Championships in 2013, 2015, 2017 and 20 ...

, swimmer * Ronaldo Mota Sardenberg (born 1940) is a Brazilian diplomat, at the United Nations (2003–2007), and politicianCurriculum Vitae
Brazilian Mission to the United Nations, Retrieved on 2009-06-29.

Sister cities - twin towns

Itu is twinned with: Salto,

Gallery

File:ITU 07 2009 Giant traffic signal 6058.jpg, Giant

traffic signal Traffic lights, traffic signals, or stoplights – also known as robots in South Africa, Zambia, and Namibia – are signaling devices positioned at intersection (road), road intersections, pedestrian crossings, and other locations in order t ...

. Itu is known as the capital of "large things" File:Itu 05 2009 Museu da Energia 5864.jpg, Energy Museum File:ITU 07 2009 Giant Phone 6037.jpg, Giant public pay phone. Itu is known as the capital of "large things" File:Itu 400 Anos.jpg, Itu celebrated its 400th birthday in 2010. File:Itu Igreja de Cristo.jpg, Igreja de Cristo (Church of Christ)