Nueva Italia, Paraguay


Nueva Italia is a town in the Central Department of Paraguay.

History

Nueva Italia was created in 1904 by the Paraguay government in order to establish some colonists from Italy and their 18 families in a farming area 40 km south of the capital Asunción. However also some German and Ucranian emigrants moved to live there.
The first manager-administrator of this Colonia Nueva Italia was the Italian count Enrico Statella. After WW1 many Italians returned to Italy or moved to the capital Asuncion, but the settlement -after an initial crisis- survived & remained as a small agricultural center. Mura, Musto and Carolini were some of the Italian families that remained and perfectly integrated with the local Paraguayan population.
In the 1930s the colony was a success and grew in importance as a farming city for the Greater Asunción area
In 1956 was created the Distrito Nueva Italia, that in the 2010s have nearly 20,000 inhabitants.
The main activities are farming and husbandry. Recently is being developed some tourism, thanks to new roads toward the capital and other surroundings
The city is located to the north of the "Distrito Nueva Italia" and has a perfect square shape, because of the original urban planning promoted by count Enrico Statella.

The District "Nueva Italia"

The "Central department" of Paraguay is divided in 19 districts. The one located in the most southern section is Nueva Italia:
Districtkm²Population
Areguá12244.566
Capiatá83154.274
Fernando de la Mora21113.560
Guarambaré5916.687
Itá19050.391
Itauguá12260.601
Julián Augusto Saldívar94837.374
Lambaré37119.795
Limpio11773.158
Luque203185.127
Mariano Roque Alonso12265.229
Ñemby4071.909
Nueva Italia31218.525
San Antonio2937.795
San Lorenzo41204.356
Villa Elisa12253.166
Villeta88822.429
Ypacaraí11118.530
Ypané5325.421

Notable people