Chipilo

Chipilo is a small city in the state of Puebla, Mexico. It is located twelve kilometers south of the state capital Puebla, Puebla, at a height of 2,150 meters above sea level. Its official name is Chipilo de Francisco Javier Mina. The people of Chipilo are called chipileños in Spanish, or cipilegni in Venetian.

Chipilo was founded on October 2, 1882, by immigrants from the northern Italian region of Veneto. Most came from the town of Segusino and other surrounding towns in the province of Treviso. These immigrants arrived in Mexico in search of fertile land, leaving behind the poverty that was plaguing Veneto at that time. Most of them took up cattle raising, and the dairy products of Chipilo became famous in Puebla and other regions in central Mexico. Some maintain a derived Venetian dialect (often referred to mistakenly in English as Venetian, which is the language of Venice Italy).

In 1982, the townspeople of Chipilo celebrated the 100th anniversary of the foundation of the city along with visitors from the Veneto region. In this celebration the city of Segusino, Italy, was declared Chipilo's Twin city.

Most people from this town have acquired nicknames over the years, which travel on through generations. On Tuesdays and Thursdays, the teenagers of the town drive up and down the main road, cruising. Unlike towns in the United States where most younger people hang out on Fridays, the kids in Chipilo hang out each Sunday in what they call "el centro".

See also

• Chipilo Venetian dialect
• Italian Mexican

External links

• Description of the Venetan dialect of Chipilo, in Spanish
• Story of Chipilo, and old pictures of the city, in Italian
• Brief History of Chipilo and pictures of the city, in Spanish
• Historical research on Chipilo, in Spanish
• Ethnography of Chipilo, in Spanish