Factory manufacturer, Italian grew up in crises and helped build Brazilian capitalism
Italian businessman based in Brazil, Francesco Matarazzo left his mark on history for founding the largest industrial complex in Latin America. When he died at age 83, he left a fortune valued at around $10 billion.
Born in Castellabate, in the province of Salerno, he arrived in Brazil in 1881, at the age of 27.
Contrary to what many people say, Matarazzo landed in Santos in a different condition than his fellow countrymen, who were fleeing hunger and looking for a better life.
Francesco Matarazzo's family in Italy was wealthy.
Its winning history in Brazilian territory begins, in fact, in 1883 in Sorocaba, a city in the interior of São Paulo, which at the time had just over 13 thousand inhabitants.
There, he opened a dry goods store in his own home. His first factory had a wooden press and a large metal pan. The artifact was used to produce canned lard, after all, it was the necessary product for the kitchen at that time.
He himself, on the back of a mule, traveled through the interior of São Paulo in search of pigs and to sell the lard he produced.
Business vision
At that time, much of the lard was imported from the United States and came in wooden barrels, which often allowed the contents to spoil.
By using metal packaging, Matarazzo increased the product's durability and allowed consumers to purchase smaller quantities, avoiding waste.
The success meant that some of Matarazzo's brothers also arrived in Brazil years later.
Matarazzo thought about returning to Italy, but his Italian friends convinced him that São Paulo would be the best option.
After all, the capital was where the huge coffee profits were going. The city had no more than 65 people when he arrived in 1890.
His name was work
Francesco Matarazzo's empire began. In the financial capital of Brazil, he had more than 200 factories, which together earned more than the individual production of all Brazilian states, with the exception of São Paulo.
His passion was to visit at least one of his facilities a day, a habit he maintained until he was in his 80s.
He would wake up around 4 am and continue working until night.
In São Paulo, Matarazzo became the biggest seller of wheat flour – imported from the United States –, but without denying its origins. He maintained the profitable lard factories: the one in Sorocaba and another in Porto Alegre.
The numbers of Matarazzo Industries
According to historians, Francesco Matarazzo accumulated assets that would place him comfortably among the ten richest men in the world, and the largest in Brazil.
Indústrias Reunidas Fábricas Matarazzo, IRFM, employed more than 30 thousand people, a number that very few private companies reach in Brazil today.
Despite being one of the most powerful men of his time, Matarazzo was friendly and did not like ostentation.
In 1924, in Naples, the count proved this by ordering a suit from his favorite tailor shop.
The tailor was surprised, saying that an industrialist's son had stopped by earlier and had not one, but six suits made. Matarazzo didn’t hesitate: “He has a rich father, I don't".
When he died, the businessman left his widow Filomena, 11 children and more than 30 grandchildren and ten great-grandchildren. The patriarch's large family is part of the explanation for how one of the largest industrial complexes ever seen in the world could disappear.
Francesco Matarazzo never became naturalized, but whenever he could, he praised the country that welcomed him. The businessman gained the title of Count of the Kingdom of Italy – and began to be called that in Brazil as well.
He died in 1937, a victim of kidney failure, on the eve of his 83rd birthday.
The decline of the empire
How can a business empire collapse? According to analyzes carried out over time, poor management of the family business and family conflicts were the determining factors.
The lack of dynamism in the growing national and multinational competition also contributed.
Despite this, some companies in the group resisted until 1983, until they went into receivership. Initiating the final dismantling of the empire, which included the sale of assets, family disputes, labor actions and factory leasing.
10 facts about Francesco Matarazzo
- Upon disembarking in Brazil, he saw the two tons of lard he had brought to start a commercial activity in the country sink.
- Matarazzo was the founder of the Federation of Industries of the State of São Paulo (FIESP).
- He was the donor of the land, where the headquarters of the Palestra Itália club (currently Palmeiras) are located to this day.
- Matarazzo was a real tourist attraction: parents took their children to see the businessman drive away – or stroll along the sidewalk smoking his cigar.
- He never learned to speak Portuguese clearly, and expressed himself in the best macaronic style.
- Matarazzo contributed a lot of money to Mussolini's fascist regime. The count did not hide his admiration for the dictator, for his worldview and firm grip.
- He was never able to overcome the tragedy of his son dying in a car accident in Turin.
- He was the first president of the Italian Bank of Brazil, whose main objective was to send money to Italy, carried out by Italians working in Brazil.
- Matarazzo's importance in Brazil's economy is only comparable to that of the Viscount of Mauá in the Second Reign of the Brazilian Empire (1822-1889).
- Around 100 people took to the streets to say goodbye on the day of his burial.
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