One of the traditional highlights of carnival in Rio de Janeiro is the parade of the top samba schools which take place on the Sunday and Monday nights of carnival along the purpose built Passarela do Samba (Sambódromo), located on Avenida Marques de Sapucaí, close to the city centre. The winners’ parade, featuring the top samba schools from all the divisions, will take place on the following Saturday.
Brazil Carnival : Samba School
Imperio Serrano is one of the most venerable of all the escolas (schools), referred to as one of the quatro grandes (big four) that have dominated Rio carnival for 50 years or more. Its percussion section has won the placa (plaque) for best percussion section more than any other school. This Rio samba school has an interesting history, both of its inception, and its sad demotion after last year’s parade. (It was one of the two lowest scoring groups in the Special Group, therefore it descended into Grupo A for the 1998Carnival parade.)

G.R.E.S. Imperio Serrano (Grémio Recreativo Escola de Samba—Social Society Samba School – the official designation of the largest samba schools in Rio) is one of the great schools of Madureira, a neighborhood known to be one of the cradles of samba. This working class neighborhood, over an hour by car distant from the chic beachfront neighborhoods in the Zona Sul (southern zone,) also is the home of G.R.E.S. Portela and G.R.E.S. Tradição, two other formidable schools. Rio is vast; therefore only a fraction of the city’s neighborhoods have even one great escola. Madureira has three.