Shopping in Serro

Serro offers a wealth of handicrafts and trinkets in clay, stone, wood, pewter, silver, and woven fibre for the shopaholic tourist. These have been passed down generations and are almost sacred to these artisans who painstakingly create these handicrafts from scratch, with care, passion and dedication to their craft.

Serro's ceramic handicrafts are mostly utilitarian objects like pans, pots, vases and smoking pipes and decorative objects like images, figures, statues and paintings.

Our Serro shopping guide below will give you an idea of where the best places to shop throughout the town are, as well as some great Serro gift and souvenir ideas. We also have more general information about shopping in Brazil. And don't forget to enjoy an authentic local meal in one of the many restaurants in Serro.

Serro Shopping Guide

Local Handicrafts

Soapstone handicrafts are prominent in the towns of Ouro Preto, Mariana, Congonhas, and Serro. Wood handicrafts are also produced with the most common pieces being saints and historical figures.

Apart from making these handicrafts, the local Serro craftsmen are also experts in embroidery, bamboo, weaving in splices, textiles, knitting, crochet, and leather work. Handicrafts in silver and tin are also common, as is pewter.

Like almost every town of Brazil, local artisans bring out their works to exhibit and sell in street corners and weekend flea markets in Serro. These are great options if you're looking to buy Brazilian ware for relatively decent prices. Since these are considered fair price markets because a lot of the artisans buy and sell here, you are assured of good quality products at ethical rates. Most of these craftsmen turned to arts, crafts and gift making as an alternative to the traditional way of life.

Gemstones

Brazil is famous for its gems and being a mining town, Serro is a great destination to shop for gems! Common gemstones found in Brazil include amethyst, quartz, topaz, green gold, diamond (but of course!), Esperssartita, and tourmaline. Minas Gerais exports most of the world's coloured gemstones including the rare Imperial Topaz, found nowhere else in the world, as well as aquamarines, amethysts, tourmalines, emeralds and citrines.

Semiprecious stones that are not of gem quality are also found which are cut and carved into all sorts of shapes and sizes. You can buy a bunch of emerald grapes, a quartz owl or anything that catches your fancy. You will also find cutlery, knives and swords and even chessboards embedded with these stones.

Jewellery

Brazilian jewellery is renowned all over the world - take your pick from precious gems or semi-precious stones. Excellent and assured quality has ensured that these gems are desired by jewellery lovers all over the world - be it a gemmology novice, a connoisseur or first time jewellery shoppers who can't take their eyes away from the glitter. One little known fact is that most coloured gems in the world are sourced from Brazil.And Serro has it all!