Itaúnas is a small village on the northern coast of Espírito Santo, near the border with Bahia, that exists in its current form because the old one was buried. In the mid-twentieth century, after the forest around it was cut, the dunes began to move and over a few decades covered the original village, church and all. The inhabitants rebuilt on the other side of the river, and the dunes, now up to thirty metres high, are protected in a state park.
A walk up the dunes from the village to the beach takes you over the site of the old village; only the church tower is said to have poked through the sand for a time. The beach beyond is long, wild and backed by restinga and the Itaúnas river, where you can kayak through the mangroves and look for turtles nesting in season.
Itaúnas is also one of Brazil's capitals of forró, the accordion-driven dance music of the northeast. Its bars fill every night in summer, and the Festival Nacional de Forró de Itaúnas, in July, is a big event. The nearest town is Conceição da Barra, about twenty-five kilometres away on a dirt road.