At the beginning of colonization, the economy was based on subsistence agriculture, from the cultivation of seeds such as corn, wheat, potatoes, beans and vines. From the vineyards, later on, one of the most promising sectors of the city would develop.

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In 1877, there are records that there were already nine commercial houses and two bakeries in the Colony. Six years later, the number had risen to forty points of commerce, together with blacksmiths, butchers, hotels, tailors, stills, potteries, sawmills and mills. Despite this, the scenario was one of difficulties, imposed by precarious roads, lack of resources and raw materials.

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It was in this context that, in 1888, the Italian Giuseppe Fasolo arrived in Cologne, who kept his trade as a shoemaker here. For this, she always wore a shoe mold on her back, making and maintaining the shoes with nails and wood.

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The rest of his family arrived in the locality in 1891 and started to help Guiseppe in the work. Between 1912 and 1916, his eldest son, Guilherme, started the Guilherme Fasolo e Cia society, in the tanning business, which was dissolved in the same year. In 1917, he started alone the Guilherme Fasolo Tannery and Slippers Factory - Depósito de Couros Curtidos, located in the Maria Goretti neighborhood, where the company is still located today.

The tannery expanded significantly, opening branches throughout the state and a store in the central area of ​​Bento Gonçalves, between the 1940s and 1950s, considered very sophisticated by the community, becoming a point of reference. Fasolo is still active in the sector and the building where the store was located currently houses another commercial point.

Sources:

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FASOLO, Ignes Ricardi. Fasolo in Brazil: the family and the company - history through oral tradition and some documents available from 1888 to 1987. Bento Gonçalves, 1987.

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FASOLO, 70 YEARS: Or the history of work that became a brand, that became quality, that became fashion. Bento Gonçalves, 1987.

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THE ARCHITECTURAL LAYOUTS OF THE HOUSEHOLDS AND THE HISTORY OF BENTO GONÇALVES. Bento Gonçalves, Nov. 2017. Available at: https://jornal Semanario.com.br/os-tracados-arquitetonicos-dos-casaroes-ea-historia-de-bento-goncalves/.