Curitiba (Tupi: "Pine Nut Land", Portuguese pronunciation: [kuɾiˈtibɐ] or [kuɾiˈtʃibɐ]) is the capital and largest city of the Brazilian state of Paraná. The city's population numbers approximately 1.75 million people, making it the 8th most populous in the country, and the largest in the Brazil's South Region. Its metropolitan area, called Curitiba Metropolitan Area (Região Metropolitana de Curitiba, in Portuguese), comprises 26 municipalities with a total population of over 3.2 million (IBGE estimate in 2010), the seventh most populous in the country.

Curitiba is an important cultural, political and economic centre in the country and in Latin America. The city sits on a plateau at 932 metres (3,058 ft) above sea level. It is located 105 kilometres (65 mi) west of the sea port of Paranaguá and is served by the Afonso Pena International and Bacacheri airports. The city hosts the Federal University of Paraná, established in 1912, one year before electric streetcars were first deployed.

Curitiba's rapid expansion was based on the cattle trade, the city being located half-way between the cattle breeding country to the south and the markets to the north. Waves of European immigrants started arriving after 1850, mainly Germans, Italians, Poles and Ukrainians, contributing to the economic and cultural development of the city. Nowadays, only smaller numbers of foreign immigrants arrive, mainly from Middle Eastern and others Latin American countries, but there is a substantial inward flow of Brazilians from other states of the country (approximately half the population of Curitiba was not born in the city).

Luciano Huck (born São Paulo, September 3, 1971) was born Luciano Grostein and inherited his artistic pseudonym of Hermes Marcelo Huck, famous jurist. He is a Brazilian TV presenter. For the past twelve years, he has hosted “Caldeirão do Huck” (literally, Huck's Calderon), aired every Saturday by Brazilian network Rede Globo. The show tops all viewing ratings of its time slot and is broadcast to the entire Brazilian territory, as well as to 115 countries via Globo International. Twenty million people watch the show every week. In 2009, Huck was the first Brazilian to have one million followers on Twitter, in only four months. Nowadays, 4.5 million people follow his tweets (@lucianohuck), and circa 5 million people have liked his Facebook page.

Luciano attended the University of São Paulo (USP) Law School.

At 20, Luciano Huck worked as an intern at Brazilian advertising agency W/Brasil, run by adman Washington Olivetto. Together with friends, he also opened Cabral, a successful bar in São Paulo. Luciano Huck was also an intern at advertising agencies DM9, run by Nizan Guanaes, and Talent.