Village
Panticosa is a Pyrenean town in the Valle de Tena, in the comarca of Alto Gállego, province of Huesca, situated at the confluence of the Caldarés and Bolática rivers, with a population of 910 inhabitants. Its economy, once based on livestock farming, today revolves around tourism, with the Panticosa-Los Lagos ski resort and the Baños de Panticosa thermal spa, 8 kilometres away, which has exploited since the 19th century a spring already used in Roman times. The village is first mentioned in the 13th century, organised into four quarters or vicos, three of which make up today's old town. It preserves the church of la Asunción, of Gothic origin and rebuilt in the 16th century, and the bridge of Caldarés, from 1556. Panticosa gave rise to panticuto, a variety of Aragonese now almost extinct.
Monument
Thermal spa known since Roman times, although its first documented reference dates from 1286, when Pedro I of Aragón granted it to the quiñón of Panticosa; its buildings date from 1693, and in the 19th century the complex's main pavilions and gardens were built. Situated at 1,630 metres of altitude in the Valle de Tena, next to the Ibón de Baños, it has six springs of nitrogenated and sulphurous waters, indicated for kidney, digestive, respiratory, rheumatic, nervous and skin conditions. Figures such as Alfonso XIII, Niceto Alcalá-Zamora, Ortega y Gasset, Ramón y Cajal and Primo de Rivera passed through its facilities. It was restored in the 21st century by Rafael Moneo and Álvaro Siza.
Nature
The Valle de Tena is a Pyrenean valley in the comarca of Alto Gállego, run through from north to south by the Gállego river, whose source is located here. Bordering the French valley of Ossau, with which it connects via the Portalet d'Aneu pass, it is bounded to the south by the Foz de Santa Elena and borders the valleys of Broto and of the Aragón river. Its capital is Sallent de Gállego, which also includes Panticosa, Biescas and Hoz de Jaca. It is one of the most extensive and populated valleys in the Pyrenees, with about 400 square kilometres of area and an altitude ranging from 600 metres to over 3,000 metres on peaks such as the Balaitus, the Gran Facha or the Picos del Infierno. In the valley are the Lanuza and Búbal reservoirs, and among its elders there are still speakers of the panticuto variety of Aragonese.
Nature
Group of high mountain lakes of glacial origin above the spa of Panticosa.
Activity
Patron saint festivities of Panticosa, a spa town in the Tena valley whose thermal baths, documented since Roman times, enjoyed their golden age after Fernando VII's concession to the Tena-valley entrepreneur Nicolás Guallart in the 19th century; they are celebrated with Tena-valley milk-fed lamb as the centrepiece of the communal meals.
Nature
A glacial cirque of volcanic origin in the Tena valley, one of the outstanding natural spots of the Alto Gállego.
Nature
A high-mountain ski resort located in the glacial cirque of Panticosa, in the Tena valley (Aragonese Pyrenees, Huesca), managed by the Aramón group together with Formigal. Its slopes range from 1,500 to 2,200 metres in altitude, reaching up to 2,220 metres in the Sabocos valley. It has 42 slopes -7 green, 14 blue, 17 red and 4 black- totalling 36 skiable kilometres over a snow-covered area of 16 km². The ski area has a gondola, five chairlifts, four drag lifts and four conveyor belts, with capacity for more than 14,000 skiers. It has a first-aid station, ski school, equipment rental and dining, and in summer keeps the gondola open for tourism and the bike park.
Curiosity
A centuries-old thermal tradition of the Tena valley, with the Baños de Panticosa among the oldest mountain spas in Spain: its documented history begins in 1286, when Peter I of Aragon granted them to the quiñón of Panticosa, and the first building was erected in 1694, though thermal activity did not fully recover until the 18th century. Ferdinand VII expropriated the baths in 1826 and granted their operation to the businessman Nicolás Guallart until 1854. It has six mineral-medicinal springs, indicated for kidney, digestive, respiratory, rheumatic, nervous and skin ailments, and received visitors such as Alfonso XIII, Ortega y Gasset and Ramón y Cajal. The complex, in historicist style, was declared a Sitio de Interés Nacional Turístico (a Spanish national tourist heritage designation) in 1966.
Nature
Panticosa sits in the valle de Tena next to the confluence of the rivers Caldarés and Bolática; part of its municipal district is occupied by the monumento natural de los Glaciares Pirenaicos, and eight kilometres from the village lie the Baños de Panticosa.
Monument
The municipal government of Panticosa has medieval roots: the valley was organised into quiñones, and that of Panticosa, already documented in the 13th century together with the barrios of Santa María, San Salvador, Sus and Exena, remained active until at least 1934 and survives today as a municipal association.
Historical milestone
Fernando VII took the springs from the quiñón that worked them and ceded the rights to the Tena businessman Nicolás Guallart until 1854. With that began the stage that made the spa one of the most famous in the country.
Food and drink
Milk-fed lamb raised by the flocks that go up to the high pastures of the Tena valley, slaughtered very young and of pale, tender meat; it is roasted whole or stewed in caldereta during the festivities and fairs of the valley.