The businessman Angelo Andrea Matarazzo, 66 years old, who has had a prominent political role in Brazil for many years, is an example of Italian-Brazilian successful and involved with the country's demands.
Professor, diplomat, administrator and broadcaster, Andrea is affiliated with Social Democratic Party (PSD) and the Italian Socialist Party (PSI), the latter being the party for which he ran for Italian senator in 2022.
With Italian citizenship, he contested the only seat in the electoral district that represents South America, but the person who ended up being elected was the Italian-Argentine Mario Borghese.
Andrea Matarazzo's career
Andrea Matarazzo was born on November 26, 1956 in São Paulo and graduated in Business Administration. In 1991, at the age of 35, he was appointed special advisor to the Ministry of Education and Culture, a position he held until 1992.
Between 1992 and 1993 he was secretary of Industrial Policy at the Ministry of Industry, Commerce and Tourism and, during his term as Governor Mário Covas in São Paulo, he was state secretary of Energy and president of Companhia Energética de São Paulo (Cesp).
In the Covas government, Andrea Matarazzo held other important positions, as a member of the Privatization, Management and Companhia Paulista de Ativos e de Ciências e Tecnologia do Estado de São Paulo.
He was also a member of the Business Relations Committee of the Government of the State of São Paulo and the Teotônio Vilela Institute, in addition to coordinating the Strategic Management Center of the São Paulo State Department of Education.
Minister and ambassador
During President Itamar Franco's government, he was Secretary of Industrial Policy. In management Fernando Henrique Cardoso, was chief minister of the Government Communication Secretariat of the Presidency of the Republic, a position he held between 1999 and 2001.
During the same period, he was ambassador of Brazil in Rome and on March 14, 2000 he received the degree of Grand Cross of the Order of Infante Dom Henrique of Portugal. In April 2001 he was admitted to the Order of Military Merit, in the rank of Special Commander.
In 2005, Andrea Matarazzo entered the municipal administration of São Paulo as deputy mayor of the Cathedral in the management of José Serra.
In 2006, he also took over the Municipal Services Secretariat, and served as deputy mayor of the Cathedral and secretary of Coordination of Subprefectures in the management of Gilberto Kassab.
Andrea Matarazzo's performance
In 2010, it was Secretary of State for Culture, a position he held until April 2012.
At the Services Secretariat, his work stood out in the areas of urban cleaning, paving, renovation and standardization of sidewalks and accessibility and urban mobility.
Andrea Matarazzo carried out important projects, such as the revitalization of the Center and Nova Luz and the creation of new green areas, such as Parque do Povo, Parque do Trote and parks in the region of Guarapiranga dam.
He also worked firmly against illegal trade and for the closure of bingo halls. He was responsible for operationalizing the Clean City program and the renovation of Avenida Paulista.
In the private sector, he served as a member of the Advisory Board of Italian-Brazilian Chamber of Commerce and Industry and was chairman of the Investment Committee.
Political clashes
In October 2012, he was elected in São Paulo as the second most voted councilor from Brazil, with 117.617 votes.
He is the licensed president of Matarazzo SA Holding and Metalma AS and also acts as a radio host on the program “Connected to Matarazzo”, on Rádio Capital. In 2020, he also began to hold the position of cooperating teacher from IBMEC-SP.
In 2016, Andrea Matarazzo left the PSDB and joined the PSD, the party for which he was candidate for vice mayor of São Paulo on the plate headed by Marta Suplicy (PMDB). They came in fourth place in the election, with 587.220 votes, just over 10% of the total.
In the 2020 municipal elections, he was again a candidate for the position of Mayor of São Paulo, having Marta Costa as candidate for vice.
At the end of the election, he managed 82 thousand votes, coming in 8th place, with just over 1,5% of valid votes.
Italian origins of Andrea Matarazzo
In an interview last year, during the campaign for senator in Italy, Andrea recalled his Italian origins.
“My great-grandfather and his brother came from Southern Italy to Brazil at the end of the 19th century, settled in Sorocaba, in São Paulo, and founded the first large-scale factory in Latin America. I, as the fourth generation, continued the path of business, as a way of giving back to the Brazilian people all the experience that we were acquiring, that Brazil allowed my family to have”, he declared.
Andrea is married to Sonia Matarazzo.
The entrepreneurial great-grandfather
The Matarazzo family came from the city of Castellabate, about 100 kilometers from Naples, in the south of the country. The pioneering immigrant was Francesco Matarazzo, who arrived in Brazil in 1881, at the age of 27.
The Matarazzo family came from the city of castellabate, about 100 kilometers from Naples, in the south of the country. The pioneer immigrant was Francesco Matarazzo, who arrived in Brazil in 1881, at the age of 27.
Established in Sorocaba, he worked as a peddler until opening a dry goods store and later a lard production and trading company. Known as Count Matarazzo, he died in 1937 as the richest man in the country.
The Matarazzo are one of the most traditional families in Brazil and its members occupy prominent positions in various sectors of society, such as industry, politics, arts and culture.
The surname Matarazzo
The surname Matarazzo derives from a nickname linked to the term materazzo (mattress), perhaps indicating the progenitor's profession as a mattress maker.
This surname is quite widespread in campania, but also has a lineage in southern Sicilia.
There are approximately 1357 Matarazzo families in Italy, with the regions with the most occurrences being Campania (613), Sicily (194) and Lazio (153)
The surname Matarazzo is 498th in popularity in the Campania region, 36th in the province of Avellino and 3rd most common in city of Rutino, located in the Campania region.
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