Nueva Italia, Paraguay

Nueva Italia was created in 1904 by the Paraguay government in order to establish some colonists from Italy and their 18 families in a farming area 40 km south of the capital Asunción. In addition to Italians, a community of German and Ukrainian emigrants also moved to Nueva Italia.^{[citation needed]}

The first manager-administrator of this Colonia Nueva Italia (as was officially named) was the Italian count Enrico Statella.^[1] After WW1 many Italians returned to Italy or moved to the capital Asuncion, but the settlement -after an initial crisis- survived & remained as a small agricultural center. Mura,^[2] Musto and Carolini were some of the Italian families that remained and perfectly integrated with the local Paraguayan population.

In the 1930s the colony was a success and grew in importance as a farming city for the Greater Asunción area^[3]

In 1956 was created the Distrito Nueva Italia,^[4] that in the 2010s have nearly 20,000 inhabitants.

The main activities are farming and husbandry.^[5] Recently is being developed some tourism, thanks to new roads toward the capital and other surroundings^[6]

The city is located to the north of the "Distrito Nueva Italia" and has a perfect square shape, because of the original urban planning promoted by count Enrico Statella.^[7]

The "Central department" of Paraguay (with the "Greater Asuncion" metropolitan area) is divided in 19 districts. The one located in the most southern section is Nueva Italia:

• José Cardozo, football player.

• Italians in Paraguay
• Italian diaspora

• Ministero Affari Esteri. Emigrazione e colonie. Volume 3 of Emigrazione e colonie: Raccolta di rapporti dei RR. agenti diplomatici e consolari, Italy. Commissariato generale dell'emigrazione. Tipografia nazionale di G. Bertero. Roma, 1908 ([1])
• World Gazeteer: Paraguay^{[dead link]} – World-Gazetteer.com