Home-made sweets
Goiabada.
MARCO AURÉLIO ESPARZ… — CC BY-SA 3.0 · Jose Roberto V. Mora… — CC BY 3.0 · FernandoSantos — CC BY-SA 3.0
Santa Rita do Passa Quatro is a small town of about 28,000 people in north-east São Paulo state, at 748 metres between São Carlos and Ribeirão Preto, known for its home-made sweets and its Italian festival. It was founded in 1860, and the «Passa Quatro», «crosses four times», in its name comes from a stream that crossed the road into the village four times. The town was shaped by country «caipira» culture and by Italian immigrants, and its cooking mixes both. Every July it holds one of the largest Italian traditions festivals in inland São Paulo, with music and food on the station square, and in September a festival named after the composer Zequinha de Abreu. Its best-known buys are goiabada, guava paste, and other home-made sweets. Its land also holds the Pé de Gigante cerrado reserve.
Goiabada.
Italian traditions.
The town's heart.
Santa Rita do Passa Quatro, north-east São Paulo state
«Crosses four times», after a stream that crossed the road four times.