Village
Coristanco is a concello in A Coruña province, with about 5,700 inhabitants, spread across fifteen parishes along the road linking A Coruña with Fisterra, within the comarca of Bergantiños. It preserves the Lubiáns bridge, built in the 1st century over the river Rosendo and originally part of the Roman road Per loca maritima; of its five original arches, four remain, 40.5 metres long, with the flagstone roadway still visible. In the parish of Seavia stands the Nogueira tower, rectangular in plan and Gothic in style, thirteen metres high, a remnant of the 15th-century pazo-fortress of the Bermúdez de Castro family. The municipality also gathers several pazos, such as that of Cereo Vello, bearing the arms of the Manuel family, and eight catalogued castros.
Monument
A bridge 40 metres long and 2.6 metres wide over the Rosende river, between the parishes of Oca (Coristanco) and Carballo, with part of the original slate paving still visible; its dating is debated between Roman times, the medieval period and the 18th century. An altar dedicated to the god Cosus, protector of harvests, recalls its possible Roman origin, although it was rebuilt in the Middle Ages; it retains four asymmetrical arches with a triangular cutwater in the centre. It is one of the surviving remains of the Roman road per loca marítima, which linked Brandomil with Brigantium, present-day A Coruña, and it appears together with the Torre de Nogueira on the coat of arms of the concello de Coristanco.
Monument
The tower of Nogueira, in the parish of San Mamés de Seavia (Coristanco), is the only standing remnant of a former palace built by the Bermúdez de Castro family in the 15th century, declared a Bien de Interés Cultural (Spain's highest level of heritage protection) and one of the most representative examples of medieval civil architecture in the Bergantiños region. Of the two towers the palace once had, only this one survives, built of granite blocks with a square plan about 8.8 metres on each side and walls more than a metre thick. The coto de Nogueira, covering about a thousand hectares, originated in grants made by the abbots of the monastery of San Mamés to the Bermúdez de Montaos in the late Middle Ages, and passed through various lineages until it was acquired in 1959 by the Rabuñal Pose family.
Nature
A seasonal wetland also known as Braña Rubia, in the parish of Seavia beside Monte Bubela, whose condition has been deteriorating in recent years due to illegal digging and dumping of rubbish. Local tradition holds that beneath its waters lies an old village, Alcaián, sunk as punishment after refusing lodging to Jesus and Saint Peter and setting the dogs on them; residents of nearby villages even claim to hear bells, barking and cockcrow beneath the lagoon on Christmas Eve and on Saint John's Eve. Together with the neighbouring lagoa de Cuns, it forms the scant lagoon heritage of a municipality oriented toward the Anllóns valley.
Activity
A gastronomic festival held on the third weekend of September in the parish of Traba, dedicated to the potato, a crop that sustains the municipality's farming economy and has earned it the reputation of Capital da Pataca in Galicia. It began in 1981 together with the Cooperativa da Pataca de Bergantiños to promote the product. The day opens with a parade of decorated tractors and floats, continues with a gastronomic contest, potato tastings, farm machinery displays and gaiteiros, and at lunchtime sardines, cachelos and wine are handed out free. The festival closes with popular contests such as potato picking and the potato dance, in which couples compete holding a tuber between their foreheads.
Food and drink
Potato protected by the protected geographical indication Pataca de Galicia, a Kennebec variety with yellow skin, white flesh and firm texture that keeps its aroma and flavour after cooking. The Bergantiños subzone, with Coristanco as one of its producing centres, is one of the four covered by this designation, along with Terra Chá-A Mariña, Lemos and A Limia, over a cultivated area of between 1,500 and 1,800 hectares. It is the only potato protected by a designation of this kind in the whole of the European Union. On the third Sunday of September, Coristanco holds the festival of the pataca.
Activity
The Festa da Pataca de Coristanco is held on the third weekend of September in the parish of Traba, within the municipality of Coristanco (Bergantiños, A Coruña), considered the Capital da Pataca de Galicia for its good harvests. It began in 1981, together with the Cooperativa da Pataca de Bergantiños, to promote the quality of this crop, favoured by the climate and the soil. The day opens with decorated tractors, continues with a gastronomic competition, tastings and bagpipes, and at midday sardiñas, cachelos and wine are handed out free; in the afternoon there are competitions such as potato gathering and the potato dance, in which couples compete holding a tuber between their foreheads. The tuber is a major crop here, alongside maize, in a concello of fifteen parishes.