Itapevi

Itapevi is a municipality in the western part of the São Paulo Metropolitan Region, in the state of São Paulo, Brazil, about 35 kilometres from the state capital. It began as a settlement around the Sorocabana railway station opened in 1875 when the area belonged to Cotia, became a district in 1920 and was made an independent municipality on 18 February 1959 after a plebiscite in which about nine hundred residents voted for emancipation and only thirty against. The name comes from the Tupi language and means river of flat stones. In 1895 an Italian immigrant opened a quarry for paving stones that drew families from Italy, and the first building of the place is said to date from about 1720. The 2022 census counted 232,297 inhabitants over roughly 83 square kilometres, and the climate is classed as humid subtropical. Local nicknames include the City of Roses and the City of Hope.