Village
O Pino is a municipality of the comarca of Arzúa, in the province of A Coruña, with its capital at O Pedrouzo and about 4,600 inhabitants, between the basins of the Tambre and the Ulla. The relief is not very rugged, ranging between 200 metres on the banks of the Tambre — which marks the municipality's northern boundary — and 452 metres at the mount das Minas; its main tributary is the Mera river, alongside which the Noa also runs. O Pedrouzo, the capital, is the last stop on the Camino Francés before Santiago de Compostela, about eighteen kilometres away, and part of the city's airport lies within the municipal boundary. The municipality is divided into thirteen parishes, among them that of Pastor, dedicated to San Lourenzo. It preserves the castro of San Lourenzo de Pastor and the Ponte Puñide over the Mera river.
Monument
A hermitage located beside the Camino Francés, at the place of Santa Irene, in the parish of Arca (O Pino, La Coruña); the place name refers to the dedication to Saint Irene of Rome, to whom it is dedicated. It dates from the 18th century, with a rectangular two-part plan, the apse section being the tallest and of the oldest design, and it preserves inside an elaborate three-bay Neoclassical altarpiece. Beside it a Baroque fountain springs up, to which pilgrim tradition has long attributed healing properties; before its move to O Pedrouzo, the municipal town hall occupied the adjoining building, now converted into a public pilgrims' hostel.
Monument
A bridge of Roman origin over the river Mera, beside the settlement of Gonzar, in the parish of Pino (O Pino, Arzúa), very close to where the Mera flows into the Tambre; it marked the crossing point of the road that linked the coast with Lugo, and today both the Camino Francés and the N-634 road run through the site. Nearby, in 1913, the Modio da Ponte Puñide was found, a cylindrical bronze vessel the Romans used as a unit for measuring dry goods, especially wheat, dated to around 360-370 AD; its inscription records the principales (curiae) of the cities, responsible for collecting taxes from the inhabitants of urban centres in the time of the emperors Valentinian I, Valens and Gratian. It is now kept in the Museo Arqueológico Nacional in Madrid.
Nature
A hillfort of oval plan and some 110 metres in length set at 412 metres above sea level; plain pottery and two gold torcs of 22 carats weighing 350 grams together were found there, kept in the Castelo de Santo Antón in A Coruña.
Monument
A Baroque manor house from the 17th century located at do Picón, in the parish of Arca (O Pino, A Coruña), also known as the pazo de San Fernando do Picón. Built of granite ashlar and whitewashed rubble masonry, it has an open U shape with a total area of about 500 square metres, arranged around two courtyards: a larger one, to the south-west, which served as a carriage yard, and a smaller one, to the north-east, with a solaina (covered gallery) and outside stairway, whose lintel bears the carved date 1699, marking the completion of the building. Beside the entrance path stand a two-storey hórreo (raised granary) and a circular dovecote. It remains in good condition and in private hands, a short distance from the Camino Francés.
Monument
A pazo of the end of the 18th century also known as Casa Grande da Torre, at Torre de Abaixo; it once had an hórreo, a chapel and outbuildings, and appears in the municipal catalogue of civil architecture in poor condition.
Nature
At 452 metres above sea level it is the highest point of the concello and a natural viewpoint over the territory extending between the Tambre basin, to the north, and that of the Ulla, to the south, in the farming heart of the comarca.
Curiosity
A cylindrical bronze vessel found in 1913 beside the Roman bridge of Puñide, over the river Mera, in the parish of Gonzar, within the present-day concello of O Pino; it is kept in the Museo Arqueológico Nacional in Madrid. The Romans used it as an official unit for measuring dry goods, particularly wheat: the modius equalled 8.6666 litres, though the Puñide piece measures nearly 10 litres and weighs 6.8 kilos. Its importance lies in the engraved inscription, which mentions the principales of the cities responsible for collecting taxes from the inhabitants in the time of the emperors Valentinian I, Valens and Gratian, who held power together between the years 367 and 375, which places the piece around that time, between 360 and 370. It is an exceptional piece in peninsular archaeology.
Monument
A parish church set on the height that dominates the castro of San Lourenzo, a location that sums up the continuity of occupation of these lands from the Iron Age to the present.
Nature
The Tambre traces the northern boundary of the concello and gathers the waters of tributaries such as the Noa and the das Lañas. Its banks preserve gallery forest in a municipality of open fields and eucalyptus plantations.
Nature
Fortified settlement with an oval plan and about 110 metres in length in the parish of Pastor, where undecorated pottery remains were found along with two gold torcs of twenty-two carats weighing 350 grams together, now kept in the Santo Antón Castle Archaeological and Historical Museum of A Coruña.
Activity
The municipal capital is the last halt before Compostela: from O Pedrouzo fewer than twenty kilometres remain to the Obradoiro square, the day's walk that the most pilgrims complete in all Galicia.
Historical milestone
King Ordoño II (914-924) mentioned San Vicenzo do Pino in writing, the first documentary appearance of the place name that gives the concello (municipality) its name and that alludes to a high or steep site.
Activity
From O Pedrouzo, in the parish of Arca, begins the final day's walk towards Compostela: some twenty kilometres among eucalyptus woods and the monte do Gozo, the most travelled stage of the whole Camino de Santiago.