In a sea of buildings of various styles and for all tastes, São Paulo is home to unique figures who found in the city the perfect place to get their ideas off the ground. Oscar Niemeyer designed the iconic Copan Building in the center, Estevão Silva still raises his stone house in Paraisópolis and Raful de Raful quietly built a colonial villa in Aclimação for decades.
Affectionately called “Rafulândia”, the secret villa is the fruit of more than 60 years of work by the salesman. Discreet, the man rarely appeared in the media and passed away in 2003. Almost 20 years later, his grandson, Victor Raful, decided to open this curious attraction to visitors. So you can get to know it and satisfy your curiosity.
What can you find at Rafulandia?
After decades of anonymity, even becoming an urban legend among São Paulo residents, Raful’s secret villa has finally opened its doors for visitors to explore every secret and corner of the complex of colonial buildings.
There, you’ll find a scenic town complete with a chapel, a curious prison and even a small theater, where the creator himself used to perform, as he was a magician as well as a salesman! Raful lived in a townhouse in Rafulandia itself. Today, his home is a museum and houses the very rare items that were collected by this somewhat curious figure while he was still alive. The collection includes:
- Historical utensils;
- Edison light bulbs;
- Cylindrical pianos;
- Polyphon.
How to visit the secret village?
Rafulândia is located at Rua Rubi, 50 – Aclimação. With more than six decades of existence, the place opened for visitors a few years ago and admission costs R$40. The space opens its doors to the public on Fridays at 3pm and Saturdays at 10am.
In the village, you can explore and take photos at your leisure, as well as see Seu Raful’s historical collection and talk to his grandson, Victor, to discover all the curiosities surrounding the construction of the mystical Rafulândia.
