PRINCE PIERRE CASIRAGHI of Monaco has paid tribute. The heartthrobs Ben Harper and Stavros Niarchos have partied on its beachfront dance floor. And on many Champagne-fueled nights, leggy models straight from the pages of Sports Illustrated and the Victoria’s Secret catalog have perched on its billowing banquettes.

Never heard of Praia Café de la Musique? Don’t worry. It isn’t the latest poolside lounge in South Beach or some new members-only club in Manhattan. In fact, the club is in a resort well off the radar of TMZ and checkout-aisle glossies: Florianópolis in the southern reaches of Brazil.

“It’s a mixture of St.-Tropez and Ibiza but without the attitude and without the prices,” said Jeffrey Jah, a former model and the impresario behind the New York City party spots Lotus and Double Seven. He opened Praia Café three years ago after he fell in love with Florianópolis.

As South American jet-set spots like Punta del Este in Uruguay lose their novelty, affluent Brazilians and in-the-know internationals have taken the party to Florianópolis and the 40-odd white-sand beaches of the 33-mile-long island that makes up much of the city. Caipirinha-soaked lounges, stylish beach bars and cavernous megaclubs have sprouted all over the island. Once a favored spot of the surf-world cognoscenti, Florianópolis, some 450 miles southwest of Rio de Janeiro, has emerged as Latin America’s hottest new party destination.