Logbook · 4 places

What to see and do in Villasila de Valdavia

What to see and do in Villasila de Valdavia (Vega-Valdavia, Palencia): 4 places across monuments, nature, activities and curiosities, with a photo and a Google Maps location.

1 Villages · 1 Monuments · 2 Historical milestones

How far each place is from the centre of Villasila de Valdavia

Church of San Pelayo de Villasila 6.2 km

Towns near Villasila de Valdavia

Spain › Castile and León › Palencia › Vega-Valdavia › Villasila de Valdavia

What to see and do in Villasila de Valdavia

Villasila de Valdavia
Village
Villasila de Valdavia is a municipality in the comarca of Vega-Valdavia, in the province of Palencia, with 64 inhabitants (INE 2025), situated at 900 metres above sea level on the left bank of the river Valdavia, and includes the hamlet of Villamelendro de Valdavia. The first written mention of the town dates from 1175, when several residents signed as witnesses to a donation to the monastery of Santa María de Retuerta. On 12 January 1180, King Alfonso VIII of Castile granted a charter to Villasila and Villamelendro, ratified in 1255 by Alfonso X. Only six years later, in 1186, the status of both towns passed from royal domain to behetría under the ricohombre Pedro Rodríguez de Castro. The town also belonged to the Order of Santiago, which maintained pilgrim hospitals here.
Church of San Pelayo de Villasila
Monument
The parish church of Villasila, which together with the church of the Assumption in Villamelendro and the much-venerated hermitage of Santervás makes up the religious heritage of a municipality reduced today to little more than sixty households.
Charters of Alfonso VIII to Villasila and Villamelendro
Historical milestone
In 1180 King Alfonso VIII granted charters to Villasila and Villamelendro, five years after the first written mention of the place, recorded in 1175 in a manuscript from the monastery of Santa María de Retuerta.
Donation to the Order of Santiago
Historical milestone
Pedro Rodríguez de Castro and his wife donated in 1189 the towns of Villasila and Villamelendro, beside the Valdavia River in the Vega-Valdavia district (Palencia), to the Order of Santiago; the commander of Uclés returned them to the donors as a lifetime prestimonio, on condition that on their death they would pass to the commandery. The donation became final on 18 October 1194, when Alfonso VIII handed both towns over to the order, together with the Alcázar de Alarcón and other estates. The Becerro de las Behetrías later records them as abadengo territory of the Master of Santiago, to whom each resident paid one fanega of wheat and three jugs of wine, a condition that was kept up throughout the late Middle Ages.