Gramado

Gramado was first settled in 1875 by Portuguese-speaking families of Azorean descent. German immigrants followed about five years later, and soon after them Italians from the settlements around Caxias do Sul, giving the area the mix of origins it still celebrates. In 1913 the settlement's centre moved to Linha Nova, where the town centre stands today, and in 1921 a railway brought by José Nicoletti Filho, regarded as the town's founder, connected it to the wider region.

The railway made the cool plateau a summer retreat for families from Porto Alegre, and by the 1930s Gramado was known as a holiday resort. It was still part of the municipality of Taquara until 1954, when it became a municipality in its own right. In 1953 Leopoldo Rosenfeld dammed a creek on land burned in a fire a decade earlier to create Lago Negro, planting its banks with trees from the Black Forest — an early example of the deliberate European styling that became the town's identity.

The film festival, first held in 1973, gave Gramado a national profile, and the Natal Luz Christmas festival, begun in 1986, turned it into a destination for much of the year. Tourism, furniture-making and chocolate have since made it one of the most prosperous small towns in the state. In December 2024 a small plane crashed in the town, killing all ten people on board.

The film festival is the town's great cultural event. Started in 1973, it became the Festival of Brazilian and Latin Cinema in 1992, and its trophy, the Kikito, has become a symbol of Gramado itself. Natal Luz, at the other end of the year, fills the streets with parades, concerts and lights for weeks; the Guinness World Records recognises it as the longest Christmas festival in the world. The Festa da Colônia celebrates the Azorean, German and Italian groups who settled the area.

Gramado sits on the Rota Romântica, a scenic route through towns founded by German immigrants, where German roots show in the architecture and food. The town's half-timbered and alpine-style buildings reflect that heritage, and the town is part of the Região das Hortênsias, named after the hydrangeas that bloom along its roads.

Beneath the European look, the town is part of gaúcho Rio Grande do Sul, sharing its chimarrão, churrasco and accent. Gramado's people are mostly Catholic, with the apostle Peter as patron, and the church of São Pedro stands in the centre.

The municipality's population was estimated at about 40,000 in 2022, most of them living in the urban area. Tourism dominates the economy, with domestic visitors arriving in their millions, and the town's residents work in hotels, restaurants, shops and attractions. Furniture-making, knitwear and chocolate factories are the other main employers, along with construction, one of the most profitable local sectors. Small family firms, mostly of Italian and German descent, make honey, jam, wine, cheese, bread and cuca.

Life follows the tourist calendar more than the seasons. Winter, the July school holidays, the film festival in August and the long Christmas season bring the busiest weeks, when traffic slows on the main roads and prices rise; autumn and the quieter weeks of spring belong more to residents. The town borders Canela, its fellow resort.

The town has to manage heavy traffic and its own success as a destination. Winter brings occasional frosty mornings, a rarity in Brazil that draws visitors from the hotter north.

Gramado's food is a blend of the region's immigrant traditions and dishes adapted for visitors seeking a cold-weather holiday. Chocolate is the town's best-known product: nineteen chocolate factories and many shops sell homemade bars, bonbons and thick hot chocolate, and chocolate-themed events are part of the calendar.

Fondue is the classic winter dinner, with cheese, then meat cooked at the table, then chocolate with fruit, served in many restaurants. The café colonial, the German-immigrant afternoon spread, offers breads, cuca crumble cakes, cold meats, cheeses, jams and pastries in long sittings. From the Italian side comes the Serra Gaúcha's galeto meal of roast chicken with polenta, pasta and salad.

Rio Grande do Sul's churrasco, beef and sausage roasted over embers, is easy to find, and wine from the Italian-settled towns of the Serra Gaúcha is served by the glass across town. Chimarrão, the bitter mate tea of the gaúchos, is drunk by locals rather than sold to visitors.