Joel Bowman with today’s Note From the End of the World: Buenos Aires, Argentina…
One of the charms of living in the Paris of the South is exploring the city’s forty-eight distinct barrios, or suburbs. Each has its own flavor, culture and pace of life.
Villa Devoto, in the outer west of the city, is a middle to upper-class neighborhood with ornate homes in the Spanish style, wide, tree-lined streets and lush parks and plazas, like Plaza Arenales (in the above clip).
Known as “The Garden of Buenos Aires,” the exurb was named after Conte Antonio Devoto, a wealthy entrepreneur, banker, philanthropist and politician, who had emigrated from Italy in the 19th century, seeking his fortune in the new world. Having founded the bustling Abasto Market in downtown Buenos Aires in 1888, Devoto soon bought up the vast tracts of land on the outskirts of the city that would later bear his name.
At one time, Don Devoto owned the largest mansion in all of Buenos Aires, a grand 110,000 square foot palace decorated in bronze, silver and gold with iron work forged in Italy, and Florentine mosaics. An extravagant structure, the palace was emblematic of the vast riches to be made down here at the End of the World before the long, inexorable slide toward Peronism that defined the country throughout the second half of the 20th century.
Conte Devoto departed this life in 1916. With no descendants … and nobody to buy his lavish palace… it was divided into individual building lots on which smaller, family houses were later built. You can see a statue of Devoto towards the end of the clip, above, watching over the plaza more than a century after his death.
We wonder, strolling the avenues and parks around Villa Devoto, what the future holds for this storied barrio… for this city… this country. More to come…
And now for your Notes From the End of the Week…
Final Notes…
The tide is turning, dear reader…
At this unique moment in history, we (the people) have access to tools that can help spread the idea of liberty like never before.
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If you are not yet a member but would like to support the work we are doing here, please consider joining our growing community of critical thinkers, free market advocates and spiritual anarchists today.
The evolution is here, dear reader. Join us today and help spread the word…
And as always, stay tuned for more Notes From the End of the World…
Cheers,
Joel Bowman
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