Carretão - the tradition and history of the south of Brazil enhanced by the beauty of Copacabana beach.

The name Carretão stands for a small cart intended for light duties performed in the ancient watering places in the south of brazil.

The famous Brazilian rodízio is a method of serving the different cuts of meat that originated in the south of Brazil in the early 1800´s.


The picture must have been shot between 1922 and 1928 and has been gracefully granted by Alexandre Medeiros to the Alma Carioca (Carioca Soul) site.

In the foreground, the small palace that has been one of the first constructions in the Atlântica Avenue. The background shows the Lido Square whose official name is Bernadelli Square.

Henrique Bernadelli, a painter, was born in Valparaíso, Chile. Along with his brother, Rodolfo Bernadelli, a sculptor, had a most beautiful small palace in the Atlântica Avenue, on the corner of Belfort Roxo street. The picture shows the small palace with its two towers. It has been demolished in the end of the thirties, generating protests, which have been ignored by our authorities.

Lido Square has been previously named Vinte e Seis de Janeiro Square. In the administration of the Mayor Carlos Sampaio, the bathing resort-restaurant Lido was built during the celebrations of the Centenary of Independence, also provided with a first-aid service, garden and a skating rink. The name Lido pays honor to an Italian beach in Venice.

The picture and historical information have been kindly sent by André Decourt to the Alma Carioca site.

In 1928, the Mayor Prado Júnior built a Normandian pavilion in the area of the Lido restaurant, which for many years was the elegant point of the city, where it was possible to dine and dance to the sound of the Colman orchestra.

The square had a raised terrace close to the Atlântica Avenue which detached it from the sea. Probably it was demolished in 1928, since in the 1930 pictures, the square had a garden with frameworked corners in the same style as the ones we find today in Jardim de Alah square. The terrace still appears in this picture.

In Lido Square where the restaurant was, Roma public School, is placed nowadays, its the one of the two public schools in Copacabana that provide the pupils with a privileged view of the Atlântica Avenue.


* The pictures that illustrate this page have been obtained from the Alma Carioca Site and their authors are mentioned. These pictures are intended to disclose the history of Lido Square. If this disclosure is against the interests of the copyright owners, please send an email to carretao@carretao.com.br that this item will be immediately removed.