The Name Guarany

In the 17th century, the Guarany Indians constituted the largest indigenous nation, forming a homogeneous group related to the Tupinambás that belonged to the major linguistic family of Brazil called the Tupi-Guarany.


The Guarany occupied an immense area that comprised the Brazilian states of Rio Grande do Sul, Santa Catarina, Paraná, São Paulo and Mato Grosso do Sul as well as parts of the neighbouring countries Paraguay, Uruguay, Argentina and Bolivia. One of the most important characteristics of the Guarany tribes was the inexistence of coercive methods. The leaders performed their roles without resorting to the use of force.
This tribe influenced the notable Brazilian novelist José de Alencar who in 1857 published “The Guarani” about the forbidden romance of Cecília, a Portuguese noblewoman, and Pery, the chief of a Guarany tribe.

This book would later inspire Carlos Gomes to compose his opera “Il Guarany”, that premiered in March 19th 1870 at the famous Alla Scala Theatre in Milan, Italy.

Influenced by this romantic aura, the Guarany Café- Restaurant opened on the 29th January 1933 – the indigenous perfume of Amazonia in the very heart of Porto.