Four members of the Italian community in São Paulo were inspired by the Italian clubs to found their own team. Football in Brazil, as we have seen elsewhere, was quite exclusive at the time, but more and more clubs were emerging from less privileged social groups. Since the abolition of slavery in Brazil in 1888 as many as a million Italians are reckoned to have gone there to work in the coffee industry to escape poverty at home. The club's founders were associated with the large corporation Industrie Riunite Francesco Matarazzo. The club was founded on August 26th, 1914, as Palestra Italia (Palestra being Italian for 'gymnasium' in the context of the Greek term for 'public training grounds'). The promotion of Italian identity and providing a focus for the Italian community of São Paulo were high on the agenda. The club colours were red white and green (like the Italian flag) and their earliest badge was the arms of the House of Savoy.
1916
In 1916, the team joined the APEA. In this first season Palestra finished bottom of the 7 team league, winning just 2 matches. The following year the 2 governing bodies of São Paulo football were united, and Palestra Italia finished as runners up with a record of :
|
P
|
W
|
D
|
L
|
F
|
A
|
Pts
|
|
16
|
10
|
5
|
1
|
41
|
18
|
25
|
Palestra met their great rivals Corinthians for the first time that season, doing the double in the league matches, 3–0 and 3–1.
Caetano, who was Palestra's first international cap, scored a hattrick in the first of these games.
Caetano
1920
|
P
|
W
|
D
|
L
|
F
|
A
|
Pts
|
|
16
|
12
|
2
|
2
|
55
|
9
|
26
|
They were champions in the seasons 1926, 1927, 1932,1933, 1934 and 1936.
In 1942 the club was rebranded as Sociedade Esportiva Palmeiras.