Village
Vilalba is the capital of the Terra Chá and the second most extensive municipality in Galicia, with 379 square kilometres and around 13,800 inhabitants; it is a quiet town that preserves, from the castle of the Andrade family, the octagonal keep, today converted into a parador, next to the Neoclassical church of Santa María, in the centre of the medieval town. At the junction of Rúa da Pravia and Rúa de Galicia grows the Pravia, a white maple of possibly mythological origin considered the town's symbol. The earliest references to Vilalba date from the 6th century, when a council of Lugo cites it as Undecimus comitatus Montenegrinus; it suffered a fire in the 8th century and appears in the 12th as Vilarente. Its larder still produces queixo San Simón da Costa cheese and capons.
Monument
Keep with an octagonal plan, unique in Galicia, with walls seven and a half meters to a side and three meters thick; it is the only remaining part of the castle of Vilalba, raised by the Castro family in the 11th century at the crossing of the Camino del Norte with the royal road to Betanzos and A Coruña. The irmandiños destroyed it; after the county was granted to Diego de Andrade it was rebuilt, and later passed to the Castro family through the marriage of Teresa de Andrade to Fernando Ruiz de Castro Osorio. It was declared a Bien de Interés Cultural (Spain's highest level of heritage protection) in 1994 and today houses, next to the church of Santa María, a tourism parador.
Monument
The Museum of Prehistory and Archaeology of Vilalba was founded and directed by the physician and archaeologist José María Ramil Soneira, and since his death in 2014 it has been directed by his son Eduardo Ramil Rego; its premises moved to Rúa Doctor Domingo Goás in the summer of 2002. With materials ranging from the Paleolithic to the castro culture, gathered from the tumuli and castros of the surrounding area, such as those of Gondaísque and Belesar, it holds Galicia's most complete collection on the Paleolithic and Mesolithic, including the remains of the oldest known human occupation in the country and the oldest art object found in Galicia, an oval pendant, probably made of steatite, from the Paleolithic site of Férvedes II, in Xermade. The museum also publishes the scientific journal Férvedes.
Curiosity
Cheese made from the milk of rubia gallega, Friesian and brown Alpine cows, which takes its name from a parish of Vilalba, produced mainly in the Lugo municipalities of the Terra Chá; it has a distinctive shape, halfway between a spinning top and a bullet, tapering to a point, and a fine, fatty, semi-hard texture, colored between white and yellow. It is smoked with birch wood, which gives it its characteristic aroma, and holds a protected designation of origin recognized by the European Union since 2008. Its production, which reached 400,000 pieces in 2006, with 30% destined for export, reaches markets across Europe as well as Japan and the United States, and continues to grow at a rate of 10-15% a year.
Activity
The feira do capón de Vilalba is a market for capons raised in the comarca, held on a day in the week before Christmas Eve (Nochebuena), usually 21 December; its historical references go back almost 200 years, as it has been recorded in the municipal books since 1835. It was traditionally held in the Praza da Igrexa or de Santa María, and today it moves to a covered venue in the Praza da Constitución. The poet Manuel María left a written evocation of the old Vilalba fairs, with the capons neatly arranged in their baskets, the white of the straw and the linen tablecloths contrasting with the golden hue of the bird. In the Middle Ages, the Vilalba capon was even used to pay rents.
Nature
A century-old oak growing in the middle of the built-up area of Vilalba and listed among the catalogued singular trees of Galicia; it survives surrounded by buildings and has become one of the plant symbols of the Terra Chá.
Nature
Path that follows the course of the river Madanela as it passes through Vilalba and serves as an urban riverside promenade; along the route, milestones commemorate figures linked to the town, hence the name by which it is known. Since 2006, every year one of these milestones, called the Hectómetro Literario, is placed in tribute to writers and cultural figures of the comarca, in an event organized by the Irmandade Manuel María and the Asociación Xermolos together with the town council; the tribute includes a small gathering by the muíño do Rañego and a musical procession to the new milestone. Among those honored are Manuel María Fernández Teixeiro, Agustín Fernández Paz, Darío Xohán Cabana and Xesús Rábade Paredes.
Activity
A fair that every April brings together in Vilalba the dairies covered by the San Simón da Costa designation of origin, with tastings, cuttings and direct sales of the distinctive birch-smoked cheese.
Monument
Stone bridge over the river Ladra in the municipal district of Vilalba, one of the historic crossings of the chairega plain along with the ponte of Saa, on the old road that came down towards the city of Lugo.
Nature
The Ladra river is the main watercourse of Vilalba and one of the great tributaries of the Miño, with a slow course and meanders over the plain of the Lugo Terra Chá. It is born at the confluence of the Madanela and Trimaz rivers, which give rise to it, and receives as its main tributaries the Fabilos river on the left and the Labrada and Parga rivers on the right, before flowing into the Miño. Its name may derive from the Indo-European root lat-, referring to a wet area or pool. Its banks form part of the Terras do Miño biosphere reserve and the Parga-Ladra-Támoga protected area.
Nature
The castro of Gondaísque, also known as Castro Grande, stands at the place of O Castro, in the parish of Gondaísque, one of the many castros scattered across the municipality of Vilalba, in the Terra Chá district. In 2010 this place had 13 inhabitants.
Historical milestone
The chairego hidalgo Afonso de Lanzós was one of the captains of the second Irmandiña revolt, which pulled down fortresses all over Galicia; the tower of the Andrade family in Vilalba had already fallen in 1431.
Food and drink
A rooster castrated and hand-fattened for months on maize flour and chestnuts, slaughtered for the Christmas table, whose annual fair, held on the Saturday before Christmas Eve, usually 21 December, is the best-known gastronomic event of the Terra Chá. References to this fair go back almost 200 years, with entries in the concello's books dating from 1835. It was traditionally held in the Praza da Igrexa, or de Santa María, though it has now moved to a covered venue in the Praza da Constitución. The poet Manuel María left a written portrait of it, evoking the old Vilalba capon fairs and the pairs of birds neatly arranged in their baskets, on homemade linen tablecloths that contrasted with the golden colour of the meat.
Food and drink
Almond sweet made by the bakeries of Vilalba, with puff pastry and a sugar coating; it accompanies the capón and San Simón cheese in the most recognisable larder of the concello.