Village
Touro is a municipality of about 3,400 inhabitants located in the south of the province of A Coruña, in the valley of the Ulla river, which forms the boundary with the Pontevedra municipality of Vila de Cruces and whose course narrows as it approaches the river. The relief, made up of gentle hills facing the Ulla, reaches its greatest heights in the mountains of As Minas, at 452 metres, and at O Coto and Castro. The municipal seat is located in the parish of Touro, at the site of Fonte Díaz, within a territory divided into nineteen parishes and one hundred and thirty-nine population centres. The municipality produces cheeses covered by the Arzúa-Ulloa designation and preserves the 18th-century pazo of Andeade; between 1974 and 1986 a copper mine operated here, whose waste still affects the soils and waters of the area.
Monument
Pazo founded at the beginning of the eighteenth century by Pedro Antonio Verea Pacheco, with a chapel of its own and a façade on which the coats of arms of the related lineages pile up — Pacheco, Verea, Aguiar, Figueroa and Montenegro — lords of these lands of the Ulla; it is the most complete of the four pazos preserved in the concello.
Monument
A manor house in the parish of Calvos, of origin earlier than the 18th century and linked to the Hermida family, restored in recent years along with its hórreo, its chapel and the stone cruceiro that presides over the forecourt.
Nature
A waterfall hidden on the banks of the Ulla, reached by the waymarked routes PR-G 93 and PR-G 121; beside it opens the Pozo do Pego, a pool of still water that forms part of the same spot of dense woodland.
Nature
A waterfall on the route of the Ruta dos Tres Ríos, between the Carballa mills and the Ponte da Laña; it forms part of the string of falls and mills that make use of the drop of the Ulla's tributaries in Touro.
Nature
Springs in the parish of Prevediños whose waters were historically used for baths and cures; beside them stands a chapel restored on private initiative that recalls the devotion associated with the place.
Nature
The stretch of the River Ulla between Ponte Basebe and San Pedro de Ribeira, with well preserved riverside woodland, old mills and stone fish weirs; the PR-G 93 path follows its right bank as far as the Inferniño fall.
Curiosity
Open-pit copper mine, also called the Arinteiro mine, located in Touro and Cebreiro (O Pino), which operated between 1974 and 1986; the mining rights, acquired in the late 1950s as the Rafael mine, passed in 1970 to Río Tinto Patiño, which shipped the copper from the port of Vilagarcía de Arousa bound for Huelva. Its closure and the lack of subsequent restoration left spoil heaps and acidic waters that still affect the Portapego river and its tributaries, as well as the wider river system of the Ulla, and also caused the destruction of the Copa castro. Reopening projects, promoted in recent years by the company Cobres San Rafael, have generated strong opposition from local residents.
Activity
An officially approved trail linking the parishes of Touro, Fao, Cornado and Novefontes, setting out from the Santaia recreational area; it passes the Carballa mills, the Salto das Pombas and the Laña and Basebe bridges on its way to the Inferniño waterfall.
Monument
Situated in the parish of Prevediños, it figures among the oldest seigneurial buildings of the municipality. It preserves the classic arrangement of main body, closed courtyard and farm outbuildings.
Monument
Its best remembered feature is the leaning bell tower, a building anomaly that distinguishes it among the parish churches of the concello. In the neighbouring one of Foxás a bell traditionally marked the hours of the day.
Nature
The Ulla marks the southern boundary of the concello in a stretch of wooded banks that is still recovering from the historic spill of the copper mining operation situated upstream in its basin.
Nature
The parish of Foxás concentrates several castro settlements, to which is added the course of a Roman road that climbed towards Lugo. It is the archaeologically densest area of the concello.
Activity
Access to the waterfall is made by descending along the camiño dos Pombos, through the monte dos Muíños, on a short but steeply sloping route among riverside woodland.
Historical milestone
The open-pit mine operated for thirteen years, from 1974 to 1986, between Touro and Cebreiro until the company ceased activity. It left behind lasting damage to the Ulla river system and the destruction of the Castro da Copa.
Food and drink
On the fifth day of every month a fair is held in Fonte Díaz, with produce of the land and livestock. The August edition, the so-called emigrants' fair, is the busiest of the year.
Nature
A fall of some twelve metres formed by the rego de Pucheiras in the parish of Fontes Rosas, before pouring into the río Brandelos and this into the Ulla; the name recalls the fulling mill that used the drop, and it is reached on foot by a signposted path.