São Fidélis

São Fidélis lies beside the Paraíba do Sul in the wooded interior of Rio de Janeiro. Coroado and Puri peoples inhabited this region before colonial settlements expanded along the river. In 1781 Capuchin friars Vitório de Cambiasca and Ângelo Maria de Luca arrived to establish a mission among Indigenous communities. The settlement that grew around their work became São Fidélis.