The Village of Nossa Senhora de Desterro (Our Lady of Exile) was founded by bandeirante Dias Velho, in 1662. But it was only settled and started to grow in 1748, with the arrival of 5,000 Azoerean inmigrants who occupied the inland of the island. They founded the first settlements and molded Florianópolis of the 21st Century in their image, with hard work and their simple, candid way.

The marks of the azorean settlement are still present in the daily life of the city. The architecture is found in colonial style houses and old churches. The secret crafts of the lacemakers and the potters were passed along for generations. The island accent from the azorean archipelago and Madeira Island is still alive, in a song like way of speaking and in the typical expressions of the natives wich enchant the visitor.

More than the accent, the architecture and the crafts, the descendants of the Azores maintain alive the traditions that preserve the soul of their culture. They are found in the Festa do Divino, and the Ternos-de-Reis religious rituals, the Boi de Mamão theatrical dance, the superstitions and the belief in witchcraft and boitatá, a mythological creature that spits fire from its eyes. In the communities in the interior of Santa Catarina Island, in the food, the manioc flour mills, the healing remedies, the charms of the healers against the evil eye, and in the fishermen´s tales, it is still possible to hear the echoes of another time, of another island, one that is certainly Portuguese.

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