It was a smokey town until the 1960s, due to light and heavy industries. Nothing to see (almost literally) and little else to do. BEATO and MARVILA was a place of old tenants, stray cats, memories of large farms and streets that were desperately longing to lead to somewhere.
In a way, the neighborhood is ‘parked’ between Alfama and the massive tourism and Parque das Nações, the renewed Lisbon brought to light by EXPO98, the universal exhibit. It could be a sad fate, a sort of place that the ever more packed Lisbon forgets to remember, but MARVILA and BEATO is clearly fighting back.
The rents are still affordable, even if at night it seems no one lives there. A garage is the size of a warehouse and that became a crucial detail for new businesses. Bars, restaurants, cultural complexes (like Fábrica do Braço de Prata) are placing BEATO and MARVILA on the map and guaranteeing that the neighborhood is there to stay and evolve. Renewed buildings and new homes by the river are constant reminders that those who predict this will soon be a place ready to embrace the future of Lisbon are likely to be right.
It’s still a kind of secret. So come with us to solve the mistery and embrace a new city.
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