Martinelli Building

The Martinelli Building was São Paulo's first skyscraper, a monumental 30-storey pile that announced the city's arrival as an industrial powerhouse. Completed in 1929 by the Italian immigrant entrepreneur Giuseppe Martinelli, it was for a time the tallest building in Latin America and remains a proud symbol of early-twentieth-century ambition.

Its significance lies in what it represented. Built by a self-made businessman eager to prove that immigrants could shape the skyline, the tower crowned itself with a penthouse mansion where Martinelli himself lived to reassure doubtful tenants of its safety. The eclectic, ornament-laden design broke every existing height limit and helped set São Paulo on its vertical path.

It occupies a corner of the historic centre, near the São Bento monastery, the Pátio do Colégio and the banking district, in an area of dense old streets now undergoing gradual renewal. The building's cream façade, decorated with columns, balconies and sculptural detail, stands out amid the plainer towers that followed it.

For visitors, the highlight is the rooftop terrace. Free guided visits, arranged in advance, climb to the penthouse and the open belvedere, where the view sweeps across the sea of buildings and down onto the rooftops of the old centre. The visit also passes the restored penthouse rooms, offering a glimpse of the lavish lifestyle its builder imagined. Reservations and identification are usually required, and the surrounding streets are best explored by day. As the structure that began São Paulo's transformation into a city of towers, the Martinelli offers both a genuine piece of history and one of the finest free viewpoints in the centre. Restored after decades of neglect and misuse, it now mixes municipal offices with the guided rooftop visits that keep its remarkable origin story alive.