This paper analyses the contribution the Italian immigrant has given to the construction of the moral and cultural basis of Brazilian society. Two aspects were emphasized: the first one was the especification of the immigration as a component of a population management project that involved density increase, the process of setting white and "civilization improvement"of Brazilian natives; the second one related the role Italian cultural capital had in the definition of rationality patterns. The latter was an important contribution to the formation of the labour market and to the success of the colonial nucleii which were organized in empty areas, as it occurred in the state of Espírito Santo.
Italian immigrant; family and work; regional colonization