Serro

Lunch: Serro

The route continues south from Milho Verde on the now-fully paved MG-080, passing through the municipal seat at Serro in time for a proper midday pause. Serro was the first municipality in Brazil to have its architectural and urban ensemble placed under federal protection, a distinction awarded by IPHAN in April 1938 — several years before Ouro Preto received the same recognition. The city was founded as the Arraial do Ribeirão das Minas de Santo Antônio do Bom Retiro do Serro Frio in 1702, grew quickly as one of the four original comarcas of the Captaincy of Minas Gerais, and then contracted as diamond-era restrictions curbed immigration. Its 18th-century fabric — stone-paved lanes, colonial sobrados, palm-lined praças, and five surviving baroque churches — remains largely intact.

The landmark most worth the walk is the Igreja de Santa Rita, reached by a long stone stairway from the lower town. From the church's adro the skyline opens south toward the Pico do Itambé (2,044 m / 6,706 ft), and the whole colonial core lies below. The church itself dates to the early 18th century, with its distinctive polygonal faceted facade a product of 19th-century remodeling; the clock tower is a principal timekeeper for the town. At the foot of the stairway, vendors sell the queijo do Serro — the artisanal raw-milk cheese whose production technique was declared the first intangible cultural heritage of Minas Gerais in 2002 and the first of Brazil at the federal level in 2008. The technique — raw whole milk, hand-pressed curd, pingo (whey starter), minimum 17 days of aging — was brought to the region by Portuguese settlers in the 18th century and has been adapted and transmitted through families ever since. At table, it pairs with goiabada or marmelada and a glass of the local cachaça.

The Praça João Pinheiro, the old Largo da Cavalhada, anchors the historic center with its colonial sobrados and imperial palms. The Igreja Matriz de Nossa Senhora da Conceição nearby, begun in 1713 and tombada by IPHAN, is one of the largest baroque churches in the state, its wooden towers among the tallest of the colonial period in Minas Gerais. Serro is also the birthplace of the composer Joaquim Emerico Lobo de Mesquita and of the republican politician Teófilo Otoni; the latter's family home is now the Museu Regional Casa dos Otoni.