Alessando (the only Gnattali to come to America), son of Angelo and Teresa, younger brother of Francesco, Giovanna, Líbera and Maria. Italian immigrant, laborer, cabinetmaker by trade, he arrived in Brazil at the age of 20, in 1896, the year Carlos Gomes died. In his luggage, a strong desire to become a musician. Aída, his daughter, explains: ‘There was no musician Gnattali until then. The musicians were the Fossati, my mother’s family. When he arrived in Porto Alegre, Dad was told that there was a family of musicians and music teachers there. They were the Fossati’. In Brazil, Alessandro changed his name to ‘Alexandre’, but there is no news that he became a naturalized Brazilian.