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.[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.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.[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.