Logbook · 8 places

What to see and do in Villanova

What to see and do in Villanova (La Ribagorza, Huesca): 8 places across monuments, nature, activities and curiosities, with a photo and a Google Maps location.

1 Villages · 2 Monuments · 1 Nature · 1 Activities · 1 Curiosities · 1 Historical milestones · 1 Food and drink

How far each place is from the centre of Villanova

Church of Santa María 100 m
Church of San Pedro 150 m

Towns near Villanova

What to see in Sesué 1 km · 2 places
What to see in Chía 3 km · 3 places
What to see in Sahún 3.2 km · 2 places
What to see in Castejón de Sos 4.7 km · 4 places
What to see in Bisaurri 6.8 km · 3 places
What to see in Seira 7.9 km · 3 places
What to see in Benasque 8.1 km · 9 places
What to see in San Juan de Plan 11 km · 4 places

Spain › Aragon › Huesca › La Ribagorza › Villanova

What to see and do in Villanova

Villanova
Village
Municipality of the comarca of Ribagorza situated on the western slope of the valley of Benasque, beside the river Ésera and at 966 metres of altitude. It has around 170 inhabitants spread over a little more than seven square kilometres. Its own language is Benasque Aragonese.
Church of Santa María
Monument
Romanesque church of the 12th century, of rectangular plan extended to a Latin cross in the 16th century. It preserves the semicircular apse decorated with blind arcading and lesenes, features of the Lombard Romanesque that reached the upper valley of the Ésera from the other side of the Pyrenees.
Church of San Pedro
Monument
Church of San Pedro de Villanova (La Ribagorza, Huesca), from the late 12th or early 13th century, dedicated to the town's patron saint. Originally rectangular in plan, it was enlarged in the 16th century with side chapels until it took on the form of a Latin cross; the apse retains blind arches over small corbels. It holds a Renaissance altarpiece built between 1520 and 1530, with ornamental columns and thirteen panels arranged in five tiers, and on the south wall's doorway, above the arch of the door, a chrismon carved into a block of marble is preserved.
Bank of the Ésera river
Nature
The Ésera comes down from the glaciers of the Maladeta and runs through the valley of Benasque before cutting downstream into the gorge of Ventamillo. At Villanova it flows along a valley floor of hay meadows and riverside woodland, with more than 1,100 mm of rain a year.
Pilgrimage of San Pedro Mártir
Activity
On 29 April the town celebrates its patron, San Pedro Mártir, with a pilgrimage festival that climbs to the hermitage situated on the mountain above the village. It is the main date of the municipality's festive calendar and keeps the traditional route.
The patués of the valley
Curiosity
In Villanova benasqués or patués is spoken, a variety of Aragonese transitional towards Catalan that survives only in the valley of Benasque. It is reckoned to have between one and two thousand speakers and keeps the numerals and the days of the week in Aragonese.
The first mentions of Billanue
Historical milestone
The oldest documents that cite the town are of 1006 and 1010 and record transactions of vineyards in Billanue del Valle de Sos. They attest that in the Middle Ages the vine was cultivated in this stretch of the valley, today given over to meadows and livestock.
The chiretas
Food and drink
Traditional dish of Ribagorza and of the valley of Benasque: lamb tripe filled with rice, chopped offal, bacon and spices, sewn up and boiled in broth. It was born of the full use of the animal at the mountain pig slaughter and is served cut into slices.