Historic Centre of Amparo

About this place

The historic centre of Amparo, a town on the Circuito das Águas spa circuit in São Paulo state, preserves the legacy of the nineteenth-century coffee era; the state heritage council has protected its central core and buildings from that period since the late 1980s. Listed mansions line Rua Ana Cintra and Rua Barão de Campinas, the oldest being the Solar do Barão de Campinas of 1836, the oldest surviving two-storey house in town, which received Emperor Pedro II in 1878. The state legislature describes Amparo as São Paulo's first mineral-water spa town. The centre suits a walk among colourful façades and mansions, the Bernardino de Campos museum and the old railway station, and the University of Campinas now uses it as a pilot case in heritage conservation research. Combine it with the nearby baths of Águas de Lindóia.