Logbook · 8 places

What to see and do in Vinuesa

What to see and do in Vinuesa (Pinares, Soria): 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 · 2 Historical milestones

How far each place is from the centre of Vinuesa

The Church of Nuestra Señora del Pino 50 m

Towns near Vinuesa

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What to see in Covaleda 10 km · 5 places
What to see in Abejar 12 km · 6 places
What to see in Sotillo del Rincón 14 km · 9 places
What to see in Cabrejas del Pinar 14 km · 4 places
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Spain › Castile and León › Soria › Pinares › Vinuesa

What to see and do in Vinuesa

Vinuesa
Village
Vinuesa is a town in the Soria comarca of Pinares, with about 830 inhabitants, situated at the foot of the Picos de Urbión and the sierra de Cebollera, at 1,107 metres above sea level and on the banks of the Duero, today held back by the Cuerda del Pozo reservoir. A settlement of the Celtiberian Pelendones, it was the Roman city of Visontium, and since the Middle Ages has been known as «the Court of the Pinares» for having been a hunting ground of the monarchs of Castile. Listed among Spain's Most Beautiful Villages since 2019, it retains large houses built with capital from wool and from the Americas, a Roman bridge and the Gothic-Renaissance church of Nuestra Señora del Pino. In its sierra lies the Laguna Negra, which Antonio Machado brought into literature in La Tierra de Alvargonzález.
La Laguna Negra
Nature
The Laguna Negra de Urbión is a lake of glacial origin set at the foot of a cirque with vertical walls in the Picos de Urbión, within the district of Vinuesa (Soria), at the heart of the Pinares district and of the natural park declared in 2010 that bears its name. It lies at 1753 metres above sea level, alongside other lakes of the same origin such as the Helada and the Larga, and is reached from Vinuesa via the Revinuesa valley, on foot or by bus on days of highest visitor numbers. Its dark waters, where birds of prey nest, fed legends of a bottomless depth linked to the sea by underground caves, recorded by Machado in La tierra de Alvargonzález, although in reality they do not exceed eight metres in depth. On the first Sunday of August a swimming crossing is held.
The Land of Alvargonzález
Curiosity
Antonio Machado set the ending of La tierra de Alvargonzález at the Laguna Negra, a long narrative poem that tells of the parricide committed by Alvargonzález's sons, who throw their father's corpse into waters that legend says are bottomless. First published in 1912 within Campos de Castilla, Machado himself revised it and published it in 1933 as an independent booklet in Madrid, with a cover drawing by Santiago Ontañón. The itinerant university theatre company La Barraca included it in its repertoire as a tribute to the poet, and handed out the booklet, printed in different colours, to the audience at the end of its performances.
La Pinochada
Activity
Every 16 August a lawsuit over a pine wood in which an image of the Virgin appeared is commemorated: the women, armed with pine branches called pinochos, gave victory to the people of Vinuesa, and the villa re-enacts it with swords and bucklers.
The Church of Nuestra Señora del Pino
Monument
Begun in 1591 in Gothic-Renaissance style, it has a Latin-cross floor plan with three naves covered by ribbed vaults and an eight-sided chancel; its dedication refers to the pine tree in which, according to tradition, the image that gave rise to the Pinochada appeared. The tower, sturdy and with two tiers, rises to the west, and the portal's pediment displays an image of Saint Anne. Inside, the 17th-century main altarpiece stands out, the work of Domingo González de Acereda in Baroque style with Renaissance echoes and inspired by that of the Virgen del Espino in the cathedral of El Burgo de Osma, alongside several 18th-century Rococo altarpieces, an organ from 1786 and a collection of small-sized images.
The Indiano Mansions
Monument
The village preserves large ashlar houses raised with the fortunes of the wool trade and money brought from America, with coats of arms, carved wooden eaves and round-arched doorways.
The Coat of Arms of the Pine and the Wolf
Historical milestone
According to local tradition, King Juan I, who reigned between 1379 and 1390, granted Vinuesa a coat of arms with a pine tree and a wolf after its residents came to his aid during a wolf attack, an emblem the town has kept ever since.
The 1775 Town Charter
Historical milestone
In 1775 the town obtained the title of villa and became independent from the jurisdiction of Soria; the justice pillar that stands in the village is the symbol of that newly acquired jurisdiction of its own.