The city of Anitápolis, 85 kilometers from Florianópolis (SC), owes its name to Anita Garibaldi, the “Heroine of Two Worlds”, as she is called for having fought both in the Farrapos War, in Brazil, and in Italy, alongside of his beloved Italian revolutionary Giuseppe Garibaldi. But it is another battle, known as the Serra da Garganta, fought on October 16, 1930 as part of the conflict of the 1930 Revolution —an armed movement that culminated in the deposition, eight days later, of the then President of the Republic, Washington Luís , marking the end of the Old Republic—, which makes the newly marked local trail an added attraction.
With an initial 7.5 kilometers, the trail is, in fact, an old dirt road that was used as an access route for loyalist troops (come on, remembering the history books, the troops that supported the Washington Luis government, like was the case of Santa Catarina, against the victorious coup of the gaucho Getúlio Vargas) and today it is preparing to join the Caminhos da Mata Atlântica, a long-distance trail that runs 3,000 kilometers between the states of Rio Grande do Sul and Rio de Janeiro .
“Our intention with the demarcation of the Serra da Garganta trail is to leverage rural tourism, which is already very present in Greater Florianópolis so that the entire rural environment benefits”, says Roberta Inácia Duarte, agronomist and rural extensionist at Epagri (Company of Agricultural Research and Rural Extension of Santa Catarina), body in charge of the local project.
At work, she says that they tried to pull the trail to the slopes of the mountain, which goes to Urubici, in order to make it more attractive to those looking for a more rustic path. “We have marked 15 kilometers, round trip, from Anitápolis to Campo dos Padres, but now we are going to try to open secondary trails that may include accommodation, for example, to develop municipalities in the region, as is the case on the Camino de Santiago”, she adds.
The project did not advance beyond this stretch because of the heavy rains that have affected the region in recent months. “There were more than 400 millimeters of rain, with the fall of barriers, we had to postpone the advance”, he explains, guaranteeing that, next year, the work —which depends on volunteers— will advance through an area that intends to encompass 58 kilometers in the region alone. main trail, apart from the secondary ones.
For those who want to visit the historic trail, Roberta says that seven water collection points were identified along the route, in addition to waterfalls to refresh the walker. After all, no troop would choose a path where it couldn’t replenish itself with water, wouldn’t it?
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