Gigia Bandera

Luigia Carolina Zanrosso Eberle, known as Gigia Bandera, was born on the 2^nd of June 1854 in Monte Magrè, a hamlet of Schio, in the province of Vicenza. She married Giuseppe Giacomo Eberle in 1878 and shortly afterwards, in 1884, she arrived in Brazil with her husband’s mother and their first four children. They settled in Caxias do Sul, in Rio Grande do Sul, the southernmost state of Brazil.

In 1886, Giuseppe Giacomo took over a small tinsmith business. However, as he already had a job as a farmer and barber, he left the running of the business to Gigia, who soon took charge of the workshop, becoming not only a mother and moral pivot of their home life, but a pioneer of her time, emancipating herself as an independent woman capable of running the family business.

She learned and specialised in her trade, from production to administration: she experimented with new tools and materials and managed the administrative aspects surrounding job offers, hiring employees and keeping the accounts.

Gigia Bandera realised the economic potential of the migratory flows that brought in new requirements and demands in foreign lands, so with great entrepreneurial flair, she began the production of household objects, farming equipment and stills to produce grappa.

The family business then passed into the hands of her son Abraham who, in 1896, at the age of just 16, became the new owner of the workshop, turning it into Eberle S.A. one of the most successful companies in the history of Caxias do Sul. In the 1920s, they opened a foundry nearby, producing weapons, swords and knives for the army, along with a variety of other items.

Gigia Bandera died in 1928, leaving behind a company with over six thousand employees and becoming the entrepreneur who boosted the region's iron and steel industry, defying her time and social conventions.

A street in her hometown and a statue are dedicated to her. Since 1987, the Iron and Steel Industry Union of Caxias do Sul has presented the prestigious Gigia Bandera Award to personalities who distinguish themselves for the values of entrepreneurship.

The Gigia Bandera Trophy of Merit was created in 2011, and is awarded to metalworking companies inspired by her professional values.

Story collected in collaboration with the Centro Studi Grandi Migrazioni.