A traveler through the southern part of the state discovers within the interior, and in the unique people that live there, an Italian style that is surprising and pleasing. The largest immigrant group in the state, Italians represent nearly 65% of the state population.
 
There are Italian settlements in the north and in the west of the state, but the principal and oldest Italian concentration is in the south. Good wine and home made products can be enjoyed there, dialects and traditional music are some of the simple pleasures that charm the visitor. 
         
Urussanga is the capital of "Little Italy." It is home to the Wine Festival. It is a small pleasant city, sprinkled with colonial houses and cantinas transformed into charming home-style restaurants. The replica of Michelangelo's Pietá, donated by the Vatican, is on display in the principal church, and is another attraction of the city. 
         
The Open Air Museum in Orleans preserves houses and mills of the first immigrants, as well as the tools and machinery they used. In Nova Veneza, the attraction is the Via Sacra, a stone monument carved by sculptor Zé Diabo as well as the old house of the Bratti family, the most exceptional group of stone buildings in the region.
         
Complementing the circuit of municipalities is Criciúma, Pedras Grandes, Treze de Maio, Sangão, Morro da Fumaça, Cocal do Sul, Siderópolis, Forquilinha, Maracajá, Morro Grande, Meleiro, Turvo and Jacinto Machado. They have the traditions and customs of a simple world, with an Italian flavor