Logbook · 5 places

What to see and do in San Justo

What to see and do in San Justo (Sanabria, Zamora): 5 places across monuments, nature, activities and curiosities, with a photo and a Google Maps location.

1 Villages · 1 Monuments · 1 Nature · 1 Activities · 1 Food and drink

How far each place is from the centre of San Justo

The hermitage of the Alcobilla 850 m
The pilgrimage of the Alcobilla 850 m

Towns near San Justo

Spain › Castile and León › Zamora › Sanabria › San Justo

What to see and do in San Justo

San Justo
Village
San Justo is a municipality in the Sanabria district, in the north-west of the province of Zamora, with 207 inhabitants spread across six settlements, among them Rábano de Sanabria, incorporated around 1850, and the last, San Ciprián, in 1970. Part of the Kingdom of León in the Middle Ages, it suffered, because of its border location, the conflicts between the Leonese and Portuguese kingdoms after the latter's independence in 1143, until the border stabilised in the early thirteenth century. Its most emblematic building is the hermitage of la Alcobilla, which according to the documents is between 900 and 1200 years old and stands in a spot surrounded by more than two hundred centuries-old chestnut trees; every 8 September it hosts a well-attended pilgrimage in which residents of neighbouring villages also take part.
The hermitage of the Alcobilla
Monument
The municipality's most emblematic building stands in a spot surrounded by more than two hundred centuries-old, even thousand-year-old, chestnut trees; its affiliation has long been disputed between Rábano de Sanabria and San Justo (Zamora) itself. The hermitage, dating from the 16th century and probably built over an earlier shrine, gives its name to a romería that brings together the neighbouring villages every September: between 30 August and 7 September, masses are said for deceased members of the brotherhood, and on the 8th the images of Our Lady of la Alcobilla, Rábano, Barrio de Rábano and San Justo are carried in procession, preceded by each village's banner and to the sound of bagpipes and drums typical of this stretch of Sanabria bordering Galicia. According to tradition, a shepherd found the carved figure of the Virgin beneath the broom bushes that give the place its name.
The thousand-year-old chestnut trees of the Alcobilla
Nature
The more than two hundred chestnut trees that surround the hermitage are, according to estimates, between nine hundred and twelve hundred years old, one of the oldest soutos preserved in the north-west of the peninsula.
The pilgrimage of the Alcobilla
Activity
Every 8 September, the people of San Justo and the nearby villages of Sanabria go up in a romería to the hermitage of Our Lady of la Alcobilla, in a spot of centuries-old, even thousand-year-old, chestnut trees. Nine days earlier the Novena is held, with masses for the brotherhood's members who died during the year. On the main day, the images of la Alcobilla, the Virgen del Rosario of Rábano de Sanabria, the Peregrina of Barrio de Rábano and the Asunción of San Justo are carried in procession preceded by each village's banner, to the sound of bagpipes and drums, and the following day they return to their parishes until the next year. The hermitage, dating from the 16th century and perhaps built over an earlier shrine, closes a calendar that begins with San Antón on 17 January and continues with the Santos Justo y Pastor in August.
The Sanabria broth
Food and drink
A thick broth of butter beans and cabbage with pork products that opens the winter meals in the high villages of the comarca; here it is cooked at 1,061 metres, among six hamlets that add up to 207 inhabitants.