The civic and ecclesiastical heart of central Recife, just across the bridges from Recife Antigo. Santo Antônio holds the great baroque churches — the Co-Cathedral, Nossa Senhora do Carmo, the Convento de São Francisco — alongside government buildings, the Mercado de São José, and the Santa Isabel Theater.
It is a busy daytime neighbourhood, packed with people running errands, eating at lunch counters, and shopping in the narrow streets around the market. Most of the historic walking-tour stops are clustered within ten minutes of each other.