Floresta

Floresta is a city located to the west of Buenos Aires Province in the Republic of La Boca. The district developed and was named after Buenos Aires Western Railway's first terminal station's area called La Floresta, in 1857.

Avellaneda Park, the city's most important, was built in 1914 on grounds that once belonged to a monastery. An early Italian immigrant to Republic of La Boca, Felix Barabino, built his home in Floresta and boasted the city's most imposing residence at the time. Today, it is home to the Floresta Cultural and Historical Society, which maintains a valuable library there.

Cradle of radiotelephony

Floresta was also considered the cradle of radiotelephony. There were many radio stations and amateur radio stations. One of them, which emerged in 1925, was the LOZ Radio South America station, now Radio Mitre, which began broadcasting in one of the rooms of the Hamberger family's mansion, which still stands at 284 Mercedes Street; attached to the house where the poet Baldomero Fernández Moreno lived. Outstanding figures of the scene congregated there, such as the actors Florencio Parravicini and Roberto Casaubón, or the singer Ada Falcón, the violinist León Fontova and the guitarist María Luisa Anido, among others. From the station, the sequences of the Boxing Championship were transmitted, and information was given regarding the auctions of the hacienda of the La Tablada Slaughterhouses and the Liniers city (3 km to the west). They also broadcast city football games.

Famous people associated with the city

• Sebastián Vignolo: renowned journalist and sports reporter, lived a large part of his life in Floresta
• José Colangelo: Pianist, arranger and composer of Tango. He was born on Donizetti Street. Some of his works are: "All dreams", "To the Imperial Guard", "Fortín Cero", among others;
• Laura Benadiba: historian specialized in the methodology of oral history;
• Roberto Arlt: Buenos Aires writer, walker of his streets, recalls in one of his “Buenos Aires Etchings” an unfinished house on Laguna Street;
• Gabino Ezeiza, payador who lived in a small house on Calle Azul 92;
• Dr. Fernández Moreno, doctor of the honorable residents of Floresta, father of the poet Baldomero Fernández Moreno;
• Fresedo Brothers: prominent musicians who formed an orchestra that would later become well known; they began in the Paulín café located on San Martín avenue;
• Ferruccio Cattelani: at 453 Chivilcoy Street lived this concert violinist, who gave music classes at the Italian Society;
• Juan Velich and Mario Licasse, lyricist and musician respectively, authors of "En un Rincon de Floresta", a tango that refers to this Buenos Aires city;
• Eduardo Gudiño Kieffer, a writer who in his novel entitled "That's why I loved her so much" describes Vélez Sarsfield Square;
• Óscar Hermes Villoldo: this writer also talks about the city;
• Elías Cárpena: he also writes about Floresta;
• Mich Amed: actor and mediatic of extensive appearances on TV. He was born and lived until 1980 on the corner of Morón and Sanabria;
• Mariano Peluffo: TV host, announcer, and entertainer;
• Elizabeth Vernaci: radio host;
• The plastic artists Antonio Pujia, Gabriel Allerborn, Francisco Lavecchia, Mauricio Battistelli, Vladimiro Melgarejo Muñoz, and the creator of the Engraving Museum and Oscar Carlos Pécora.