Tra poesie, prose e palchi: il canottaggio e le sue sociabilità sull’isola di Santa Catarina (1910-1925)

During the 1910s and 1920s, two nautical clubs and one regatta club were opened in Florianópolis – capital of the state of Santa Catarina, in Brazil. Rowing, as a sport, began to be encouraged among the native youth. Newspapers and magazines started to interact with the public by promoting competitions and rewarding the winners of the regattas with the publication of colored photos. Poems and plays that paid tribute to both rowers and maritime disputes were written by local artists. The Clubs, which did not have the financial support of the Brazilian Confederation, promoted dancing dinners organized by the young uniformed fans. In the first half of the 20th century, in Florianópolis, rowing helped to improve sociability and created heroes who exhibited strength, beauty and discipline. So a question arises: “Why has rowing become a trend in florianopolitan society at this particular time?”. Starting from this unpretentious question and from the analysis of selected sources that reproduce countless silences, especially those concerning the theater and the women, this study was conceived in the form of short essays that narrate some of the activities that derived from the practice of rowing in Florianópolis.