The Igreja Matriz do Santíssimo Sacramento sits in the small historic centre a few blocks back from the beach and is the most visible reminder of Itapema's Azorean origins. The current building is a 20th-century reconstruction on the site of the original 19th-century chapel, simple, white-walled, and centred on a single bell tower.
The square in front fills up in the late afternoon with locals walking dogs and grandchildren. The interior is plain, the woodwork modest. It is not the main reason to come to Itapema, but a short walk through the old centre is a useful counterweight to the high-rise beachfront and gives some sense of the town that existed before the 1970s boom.