Qualla: Savassi

Savassi: Introduction

Thu, 16 Apr 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit Edson Hwang - User: (WT-shared) Edsonh at wts wikivoyage, CC BY-SA 3.0. A neighborhood named for a bakery is a strange thing, but Savassi came by it honestly. In the mid-1930s, an Italian family named Savassi took over a bakery on Praça Diogo de Vasconcelos in Belo Horizonte and put their surname on the storefront. Locals began calling the square by the bakery's name, then the surrounding streets, and eventually the mayor formalized what the neighbors had already decided. The bread the Savassis sold is remembered chiefly because Minas Gerais got its trendiest district out of it. Today the Praça da Savassi is surrounded by bars, bistros, galleries, and some of the highest per-square-meter real estate prices in Belo Horizonte, but the origin story still involves someone selling pastries.

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Image: Edson Hwang - User: (WT-shared) Edsonh at wts wikivoyage | CC BY-SA 3.0

Savassi: How a Bakery Became a District

Thu, 16 Apr 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit Andrevruas, CC BY 3.0. For most of the twentieth century, what is now Savassi was officially part of the Funcionários neighborhood, the civil servants' district. The bakery on the Praça Diogo de Vasconcelos was the social anchor - a place to meet, to eat bread and pastries, and to be recognized by the ...

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Image: Andrevruas | CC BY 3.0

Savassi: The Geography of Money

Thu, 16 Apr 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit Andrevruas, CC BY 3.0. Savassi sits inside some expensive company. Its southern edge is Contorno Avenue, where Pátio Savassi - one of the city's most upscale shopping malls - anchors the neighborhood's commercial district. Afonso Pena Avenue runs the east side. Brasil Avenue runs the north. To the nort...

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Image: Andrevruas | CC BY 3.0

Savassi: To See and To Be Seen

Thu, 16 Apr 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit Andrevruas, CC BY-SA 3.0. What happens in Savassi at night is what the neighborhood is actually known for. The cafes fill up in the afternoon and stay full. The bars turn over two or three crowds by closing time. Restaurants line up along Getúlio Vargas Avenue and Cristóvão Colombo Avenue, and the private...

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Image: Andrevruas | CC BY-SA 3.0

Savassi: The 2011 Restructuring

Thu, 16 Apr 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit Andrevruas, CC BY 3.0. Starting in 2011, the city undertook a major overhaul of the Praça da Savassi itself. The central square was reconfigured, cycle paths were installed through the commercial area, and an underground car park was built beneath the plaza to take the parked cars off the street. These...

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Image: Andrevruas | CC BY 3.0

Savassi: What the Neighborhood Is For

Thu, 16 Apr 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit HVL, CC BY 3.0. Belo Horizonte is a planned city, built in the 1890s to be the modern state capital of Minas Gerais, with avenues laid out in a regular grid. Most of the city honors that rationality. Savassi does not. Its streets bend and cross each other at odd angles, shaped by the accumulated...

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Image: HVL | CC BY 3.0