Faria Lima, Itaim Bibi e il Quartiere degli Affari di São Paulo
Faria Lima (Avenida Brigadeiro Faria Lima — the 'Brazilian Wall Street') and Itaim Bibi (the upscale business and residential neighbourhood at the core of São Paulo's new financial district) are the engines of the Brazilian economy — the district that concentrates the headquarters of Brazil's largest banks, investment funds, and technology companies, and the district that, in the post-2016 period, has emerged as the primary hub of Brazil's startup ecosystem and venture capital industry.
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Faria Lima — Brazil's Wall Street
Avenida Brigadeiro Faria Lima (the 5km financial district corridor between Pinheiros and Vila Olímpia, developed as the new financial centre after the decentralization from the Centro in the 1990s) is where Brazil's financial power is concentrated — the street name 'Faria Lima' has become a metonym for the Brazilian financial sector (used in news and social media as 'Wall Street', 'the City', or 'La Défense' would be in other countries); the concentration of hedge funds, investment banks, tech unicorns, and private equity firms in the towers along and adjacent to Faria Lima manages 40%+ of all capital invested in Brazil.
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Itaim Bibi and Vila Olímpia — High-End Dining and Corporate Culture
Itaim Bibi (the neighbourhood immediately east of Faria Lima, the primary high-end restaurant destination for São Paulo's corporate and financial elite) and Vila Olímpia (the tech and startup hub adjacent to Itaim) together constitute São Paulo's version of Manhattan's Midtown — the restaurant concentration (D.O.M., Alex Atala's 2-Michelin-star restaurant at Rua Barão de Capanema 549, the most internationally acclaimed Brazilian restaurant and one of the World's 50 Best; Fasano, the Italian-Brazilian luxury restaurant institution) and the startup office culture are the neighbourhood's dual identity.
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B3 — Latin America's Largest Stock Exchange
B3 (Brasil, Bolsa, Balcão, the São Paulo stock exchange, founded 1890 as the Bolsa de Valores de São Paulo, merged with the derivatives exchange BMF in 2008, market cap R$4.4 trillion/USD 900 billion) is the largest stock exchange in Latin America — the B3 Museum (the museum of the exchange's history, free, open Tuesday–Friday) occupies the classical 1935 building on Rua 15 de Novembro in the Centro while the actual exchange trading floor (fully electronic since 2005) is in a purpose-built building in the Faria Lima corridor; Petrobras, Vale, and Embraer are among the largest listed companies.
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Embraer and São Paulo's Industrial Heritage
Embraer (Empresa Brasileira de Aeronáutica, founded 1969, headquartered in São José dos Campos, 90 minutes from São Paulo, the world's third-largest commercial aircraft manufacturer) is the product of Brazil's 1960s state-directed industrialization — the Embraer E-Jets family (the 70–130 seat regional jets that compete with Bombardier CRJ series) has 1,700+ deliveries and 1,000+ orders; São Paulo's broader industrial heritage (Volkswagen built its first factory outside Germany in the ABC district of São Paulo in 1953; Henry Ford's Fordlândia rubber plantation in the Amazon was a São Paulo investment) is the context for Brazil's industrial ambitions.
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Instituto Moreira Salles São Paulo — Photography and Urban Memory
Instituto Moreira Salles (Avenida Paulista 2424, the glass-and-concrete building on Avenida Paulista, 2017, Andrade Morettin Arquitetos, free entry, Tuesday–Sunday 11am–8pm) is the São Paulo branch of the IMS photography archive (the same institution as in Rio) — the permanent collection (3 million photographs of Brazil) is displayed in a rotating fashion; the bookshop (the best collection of Brazilian photography monographs in the city) and the café (rooftop terrace with views of Avenida Paulista) are free; the 'Cadernos de Literatura Brasileira' documentary series is produced by IMS and is the standard reference for major Brazilian authors.
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São Paulo Art Week and Frieze São Paulo
São Paulo Art Week (April/May, the week surrounding SP-Arte — the principal international contemporary art fair in Latin America, Pavilhão da Bienal, Ibirapuera, 150+ galleries, the São Paulo equivalent of Art Basel) now includes Frieze São Paulo (March, the Brazilian edition of the London/NY/LA fair, Pavilhão Biênio), creating a compressed São Paulo art market calendar that draws collectors from across Latin America and Europe; the São Paulo museum circuit (MASP, Pinacoteca, MAM, Museu Afro Brasil) opens extended hours and free evenings during Art Week to complement the commercial fairs.