Logbook · 9 places

What to see and do in O Incio

What to see and do in O Incio (Sarria, Lugo): 9 places across monuments, nature, activities and curiosities, with a photo and a Google Maps location.

1 Villages · 1 Monuments · 3 Nature · 1 Activities · 2 Curiosities · 1 Food and drink

How far each place is from the centre of O Incio

Towns near O Incio

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What to see in Monforte de Lemos 20 km · 16 places
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Spain › Galicia › Lugo › Sarria › O Incio

What to see and do in O Incio

O Incio
Village
O Incio is a concello of 146 square kilometres, in the comarca of Sarria, province of Lugo, situated in the transition zone between the Lemos valley and the serra do Courel, with its capital at A Cruz do Incio. Since Roman times, its territory has yielded the marble of Incio, a porous, veined material with which the Romanesque complex of O Hospital and numerous sculptures of the Roman city of Lucus Augusti were built; the municipality preserves eight Romanesque monuments, among them the church of San Pedro Fiz, also built of this marble. The Vilasouto reservoir offers a remarkable landscape, and its ferruginous waters gave life to the old spa of Ferrería. With fewer than 1,800 inhabitants, widely scattered, it also holds the megalithic necropolis of Santa Mariña.
Church of San Pedro Fiz do Hospital
Monument
Romanesque church from the late 12th century built entirely of bluish marble quarried locally, a unique case in Galicia, whose pale fabric contrasts with the granite usually found in the churches of the Lugo mountains. It formed part, together with the nearby church of Puertomarín, of a commandery of the Hospitaller Order of St John, which maintained here a fortress, hostel and hospital for pilgrims on this variant of the Camino. The west portal, with four archivolts adorned with rosettes, shows a Maltese cross on the tympanum; in the north wall opens a 15th-century marble arcosolium with the tomb of Friar Álvaro de Quiroga, commander of Puertomarín, of whom tradition says that if the lid is lifted the church will collapse. It was declared a historic-artistic monument on 19 June 1981.
Marble quarries of O Incio
Curiosity
The outcrops of bluish marble in the municipality are a geological rarity in Galicia and explain why the church of San Pedro Fiz was built with that material; the stone continued to be quarried for building and masonry in modern times.
Reservoir of Vilasouto
Nature
The encoro de Vilasouto is an artificial reservoir built in 1969 on the river Mao, in the municipality of O Incio, between the parishes of Vilasouto, Eirexalba and Goo, with a capacity of 21 cubic hectometres and covering 111 hectares. It was built to secure the irrigation water supply of a large part of the Terra de Lemos. Its waters flooded land and homes in the affected parishes, as well as, at the site of Agro do Pepe, rocks bearing petroglyphs that remain submerged during heavy rains; the old church of San Mamede de Vilasouto also fell out of use, replaced by a new one in the centre of the present-day village. Its wooded, little-used shores, with carballeiras and riverside groves, are today one of the main recreational areas in the interior of the Sarria district.
Modorriñas
Nature
At 1,162 metres it is the highest point of the municipality of O Incio and one of the summits linking the comarca of Sarria with the Courel ranges; the Cabe and Mao rivers, which water much of the municipality, run down its flanks.
Festival of San Eufrasio
Activity
Every 15 May the parish of Santa María do Mao honours Saint Euphrasius, one of the apostolic men whom tradition places evangelising Hispania; the pilgrimage festival gathers people from all over the municipality around the church.
Mountain range of o Incio
Nature
A mountain group with several heights above 1,100 metres that closes off the concello to the east; its outcrops of marble and limestone explain both the quarries and its caves and shafts.
Megalithic necropolis of Santa Mariña
Curiosity
A group of some forty mámoas spread over the hill and declared a Bien de Interés Cultural; it is one of the most numerous prehistoric funerary groupings in the east of the province of Lugo.
Honey of Galicia
Food and drink
A honey covered by a protected geographical indication which in these sierras is gathered from heather and chestnut; the hives were traditionally sheltered in stone alvarizas against bears and livestock.