Samba Schools in Rio de Janeiro: Find out who they are and the parade order in 2023

To the Samba schools in Rio de Janeiro They are extremely famous and known throughout the country, rocking the Sambadrome every year during Carnival.

Some maintain their hegemony as the main schools in each parade, such as Beija-Flor and Mangueira, in addition to others that have been traditional for many years and continue to be present in the parades on Sunday and Monday.

Here in this article, we will show you a little about all the samba schools in Rio de Janeiro who will march in the special group and what the order will be in 2023.

Want to know everything about the subject? So let's go!

 

About Samba Schools in Rio de Janeiro

 

Serrano Empire

Império Serrano is a samba school that originates from Morro da Serrinha, which is in the north of Rio de Janeiro.

Its headquarters are next to the train station known as Mercadão de Madureira, in the famous Madureira neighborhood, and the school was founded in 1947.

The name Império Serrano refers exactly to Morro da Serrinha and its colors are green and white, with the Brazilian Imperial Crown as its symbol.

This samba school is one of the most traditional in Rio, having won the carnival title 9 times (1948, 1949, 1950, 1951, 1955, 1956, 1960, 1972, 1982), but has not won for more than four decades.

The school won the 2nd division title in 2022 and returns, in 2023, to the special group of the Rio carnival.

 

Grande Rio Academics

It is a samba school that parades in the special group of the Rio carnival, being from the city of Duque de Caxias, existing since 1988.

She is the current champion of Rio's carnival, the first title won in its history, but she came in 2nd place four times (2006, 2007, 2010, 2020).

The school constantly uses praise for the Amazon region as the theme of its parades and plots.

 

Independent Youth of Father Miguel

Mocidade Independente originates from the Padre Miguel neighborhood, hence its name, and is based on the famous Avenida Brasil, in Rio.

It has already won 6 Rio Carnival titles (1979, 1985, 1990, 1991, 1996, 2017) and is the 7th school in number of victories to date.

The school's growth from the 1970s onwards is associated with the sponsorship it received from the controversial bicheiro Castor de Andrade, a big fan of the club.

 

Unidos da Tijuca

Unidos da Tijuca originated on several hills in the Tijuca neighborhood and its headquarters were, for many years, in Morro do Borel.

Nowadays, the school's commercial block is in the Santo Cristo neighborhood, very close to the city's bus station, Novo Rio.

The school has four Rio de Janeiro champion titles, in 1936, 2010, 2012 and 2014, that is, 3 won in the last decade.

 

Salgueiro Academics

This is another samba school in Rio de Janeiro that is a multiple champion of the Rio carnival, one of the most traditional in history.

It started in Morro do Salgueiro and currently has its headquarters in the Andaraí neighborhood.

The school, founded in 1953, won 9 carnival titles (1960, 1963, 1965, 1971, 1974, 1975, 1993, 2009), but has not won for some time.

 

Mangueira First Station

Mangueira is among the most traditional samba schools in Rio de Janeiro, with its green and pink colors being very famous.

She is the second biggest champion of the Rio carnival, behind only Portela, with 20 titles on her trophy shelf.

The school mainly dominated Rio's carnival in the 1980s, but in this century it only won three times (2002, 2016, 2019).

The school was founded in 1928 in Morro da Mangueira, which gives its name to the association, close to the region where Maracanã is located.

Mangueira has been an innovative school over the years, creating a wing of composers, including women, has a single marking, the first surdo, and introduced, in Brazilian carnival, the flag bearer and the master room.

 

Tuiuti Paradise

Paraíso do Tuiuti is a group that had its origins in Morro do Tuiuti, located in the neighborhood of São Cristovão.

The school's headquarters were close to Campo do São Cristovão, however, this year this location was changed.

The samba school has never won a special division title in Rio, but was runner-up in 2018.

 

Portela Samba School

Portela is the samba school in Rio de Janeiro with the largest number of carnival titles, having the famous colors blue and white.

The school's most recent title was in 2017, after more than 30 years since its last title in the 1990s.

Portela is the only school to have won a seventh championship, in the 1940s, and a fourth championship, in the 1950s.

It is known as the Majesty of Samba, being one of the 3 founding schools of the Rio carnival, along with Mangueira and Deixa Falar.

Its function took place as a carnival group, which was called Conjunto Oswaldo Cruz, as it emerged in the neighborhood of the same name, in 1923.

 

United States of Vila Isabel

The Unidos de Vila Isabel school is another very traditional school in Rio de Janeiro, based in the neighborhood of the same name, and it has already won 3 titles, in 1988, 2006 and 2013.

Princess Isabel's crown is present in the school's coat of arms, with a blue ribbon that has the club's initials, on top of the crown, and a treble clef, Noel Rosa's feather and a tambourine at the bottom.

 

Empress Leopoldinense

Imperatriz Leopoldinense is a samba school from Rio's carnival that is based in the Ramos neighborhood and opened in 1959.

Its founder was Amaury Jório with some samba dancers in the Leopoldina area, a reference to the Leopoldina Railway, which was a railway that crossed the current neighborhood of Ramos.

The Railway was a reference to the Brazilian empress Maria Leopoldina, so the Empress Leopoldinense has a lot of history in its creation and with the Brazilian empire.

 

Nilópolis Hummingbird

It is impossible to talk about Carnival in Rio without mentioning Beija-Flor de Nilópolis, one of the samba schools in Rio de Janeiro of greatest tradition in history.

There are 14 achievements for the school, which is located in the municipality of Nilópolis, but which participates in the carnival in the capital of Rio de Janeiro.

During the century, Beija-Flor won no less than 8 titles, including a third title between 2003 and 2005.

Beija-Flor is behind only Mangueira and Portela, its two biggest rivals, in terms of the number of titles.

However, the school can say that it is the biggest winner within the “Sambadromo Era”, which began in 1984.

In addition to these champion titles, Beija-Flor also came in 2nd place 13 times, which shows how she is always close to the top!

 

Unidos do Viradouro

The Samba school Unidos do Viradouro or just Viradouro has its origins in the neighborhood of the same name, but currently its headquarters are in the Barreto neighborhood.

The school has two Carnival special group titles, the last in 2020, but it has also won the access series several times.

Despite only two championships, it is also quite traditional in the Rio carnival, increasingly present in the most important group of parades.

 

What will be the order of the Rio de Janeiro Samba Schools parade in 2023?

One of the moments of greatest expectation for those who love the parades of samba schools in Rio de Janeiro is to know what the order will be.

The draw for the 2023 carnival was held at the beginning of July, in Cidade do Samba, and the Império Serrano school will be the one who will open the party, while Viradouro will close the parade.

The order and parade days for each school were as follows:

• On Sunday, February 19th, the following will parade:
• Serrano Empire
• Academicos do Grande Rio (school that is the current champion)
• Mocidade Indep. by Father Miguel
• Unidos da Tijuca
• Salgueiro Academics
• Mangueira First Station

On February 20th, a Monday, they will parade:

• Tuiuti Paradise
• Portela
• United States of Vila Isabel
• Empress Leopoldinense
• Nilópolis Hummingbird
• Unidos do Viradouro

With the days and the order defined, you can plan to go to the Sambadrome on the day your favorite school enters the catwalk or both days, knowing how each school will enter the avenue.

Don't forget to participate in the Rio de Janeiro Samba Schools Parade

As you have seen, Rio's carnival is the biggest event in the world, so there is always a lot of expectation regarding who will parade on which day in the Grupo Especial parade.

In this text, you learned more about each school that will participate in the special group in 2023, as well as what the order of entry will be and on which day each school will go to the avenue to show its samba-enredo.

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