Mestre Pinatti

Djamir Furtado Pinatti was born on April 13, 1930, in Orlândia, in the interior of São Paulo state—making him one of the rare native paulistas among the early pioneers of São Paulo capoeira, which was dominated by Bahian migrants. His Italian-Brazilian heritage earned him the description "mestre ítalo-brasileiro" in capoeira circles. In 1935, at age five, his family moved to São Paulo city, where he lived in Brás and then Bixiga before settling in Vila Mariana in 1942, where he would maintain his capoeira work for decades.

Pinatti's athletic journey began far from capoeira. In 1948, at age 18, he was a semi-professional soccer player in the south zone of São Paulo. Through the 1950s and 60s, at the height of the bodybuilding era in Brazil, he became a competitive weightlifter. During this same period, he achieved a black belt in Shotokan Karate, becoming part of the first class of karate masters trained in Latin America.

In 1962, Pinatti discovered capoeira through an unusual path—Lamartine Pereira da Costa's pioneering book "Capoeira sem Mestre" (Capoeira Without a Master). Self-teaching from this text, he began studying and teaching capoeira movements while simultaneously instructing karate. Around this time, he met Mestre Suassuna and the two began training together.

His capoeira training was consolidated under Mestre Zé de Freitas, who taught at the CMTC Club (Companhia Municipal de Transportes Coletivos). Zé de Freitas's classes served as a crucial meeting point for São Paulo's burgeoning capoeira community, and through him Pinatti—one of the few native paulistas—connected with the larger community of Bahian capoeiristas who had migrated to the industrial capital. He began frequenting the famous rodas at Praça da República, where the cream of São Paulo capoeira gathered from the 1950s through the early 1980s.

Pinatti was one of the creators of the Academia de Capoeira Regional de Elite de São Paulo—an early formal training center for the art. On August 1, 1969, he co-founded the Academia de Capoeira São Bento Pequeno with Mestres Limão and Paulão—the famous "three Ps" (Pinatti, Paulão, Paulo Limão). This academy became notable for its "Capoeira Angolinha" style, an eclectic approach bridging Regional and Angola. The academy developed an innovative graduation system using pants colors instead of cordas: black for novice, green for baptized, yellow for intermediate, blue for advanced, and white for the Master. The academy was located near the Ana Rosa metro station.

In 1971, when Mestre Bimba visited São Paulo at the invitation of Mestre Onça, Bimba symbolically recognized a group of nine mestres as the "Percursores da Capoeira em São Paulo" (Pioneers of Capoeira in São Paulo)—the famous "Grupo dos Nove" (Group of Nine). Pinatti was among these nine: Suassuna, Brasília, Joel, Gilvan, Limão, Silvestre, Zé de Freitas, Onça, and himself.

On July 14, 1974, Pinatti became one of six founding mestres of the Federação Paulista de Capoeira—the first capoeira federation in the world. The other founders were Comendador Airton Neves Moura (Mestre Onça), Mestre Mello, Prof. Mestre Gladson de Oliveira Silva, Mestre Edson Luiz Polim, and Mestre José Andrade. Eight associations formed the federation's base: K'Poeira, São Bento Pequeno, São Bento Grande, Cordão de Ouro, Quilombo dos Palmares, Vera Cruz, Ilha de Itapuã, and Mestre Zé de Freitas's academy. Pinatti served as president of the federation during the 1970s, organizing various state and national championships. In 1975, he organized the first São Paulo State Championship, structured by weight categories.

Beyond competition organization, Pinatti became the author of the first capoeira magazine in Brazil, titled simply "Capoeira," which circulated during the 1980s. The magazine featured on its cover Mestres Borracha and Paulinho Baraúna, along with photos of many athletes of the era. In his personal archive, Pinatti maintains precious documents of São Paulo and broader Brazilian capoeira history—it is impossible to know the complete history of the Federação Paulista de Capoeira without consulting his collection.

Pinatti also participated in Brazilian cinema, appearing in the film "Se meu dólar falasse" (1970) with comedy legends Dercy Gonçalves and Grande Otelo—a testimony to capoeira's growing visibility in Brazilian popular culture.

Through his academy, Mestre Pinatti trained more than 180 students across seven generations, who are now spread throughout Brazil and abroad. His teaching philosophy emphasizes "Capoeira Democrática"—a system of free learning that guides students to find their own limits and personal aspirations. This makes São Bento Pequeno a versatile academy where capoeiristas of both sexes, different ideals, and various age groups come together.

In a song by Mestre Limão, he sings that "Pinatti é da Bahia" (Pinatti is from Bahia)—but this is poetic license or perhaps a tribute to how fully Pinatti integrated himself into the Bahian capoeira community despite his paulista origins.

On April 13, 2010, the internationally known Mestre Pinatti celebrated his 80th birthday at the Terreiro de São Bento Pequeno in São Paulo. To mark the occasion, he performed 80 consecutive capoeira matches with invited guests—some playful (malandragem), some serious (jogo mesmo). This event, titled "Mestre Pinatti 80 Voltas ao Mundo" (80 Turns Around the World), celebrated roughly half a century of his dedication to capoeira.