Village
Maceda is a town of about 2,900 inhabitants situated on the slopes of the serra de San Mamede, in the comarca of Allariz-Maceda, province of Ourense, whose municipality groups together the capital and 58 scattered settlements, most with fewer than 300 inhabitants. It shares its name and patron saint, San Pedro, with the Portuguese town of Macedo de Cavaleiros. It experienced a peasant revolt against taxes in 1870 and later suffered heavy emigration, above all to the Americas, which sharply reduced its population from the 1940s onward. It is dominated by its 11th- and 12th-century castle, badly damaged in the 15th-century civil conflict; the church of Santa Mariña holds a Visigothic relief, and the concello celebrates the curious Entroido Quente in July, a carnival out of season.
Monument
The origin of Maceda Castle dates back to the late 11th century, when the keep was begun, possibly by royal decree; it later passed as a dowry to María Fernández, daughter of the count of Trava, on her marriage to Xoán Ares de Novoa, becoming part of that family's estates. Tradition places the childhood of Alfonso X the Wise here. During the Great Irmandiño War it was attacked and razed by Irmandiño forces under Diego de Lemos, and from then on it belonged to the counts of Maceda, descendants of one of the main leaders of that revolt. Badly deteriorated since the 17th century, the town council acquired it in 1993 and began a controversial restoration; today, restored, it operates as a hotel-monument and preserves its 11th-century keep.
Monument
A parish church that preserves a 7th-century Visigothic relief from a former Benedictine nunnery; in the year 935 the infanta Ximena, daughter of King Ordoño II, is documented as a nun in this monastery.
Curiosity
A milestone from the Vía Nova, the Roman road XVIII between Braga and Astorga, corresponding to the eightieth mile from Braga; it turned up at Foncuberta and ended up reused as a marker inside the parish cemetery.
Nature
A mountain range rising above 1,600 metres, shared between Maceda, Baños de Molgas, Vilar de Barrio and Montederramo; it is part of the Ourense Macizo Central, declared a Special Area of Conservation within the Rede Natura 2000 network. Together with the Serra de Queixa, the Serra do Fial das Corzas and the mountains of Invernadeiro it forms the most complete high-mountain area in Galicia. Its highest point, the Fonte do Santo, reaches 1,618 metres, with a chapel dedicated to the saint that gives the range its name and a pilgrimage in the second week of August. The vegetation changes with the slope: to the east scrubland and reforested conifers predominate, while towards Maceda, to the west, oaks, chestnuts and birches appear. Deer, roe deer, wild boar and wolves move through its mountains.
Nature
The highest point of the Serra de San Mamede, at around 1,614 metres, where the spring that gives it its name rises and a small chapel dedicated to the saint stands; a pilgrimage climbs up to it in the second week of August.
Activity
The felos wear a wooden mask with a mocking smile and animals of the Serra de San Mamede painted on the mitre, and are recognisable by their black stockings; only single men may wear it and they go round the parishes without warning.
Monument
A Gothic tomb preserved in the parish church of San Pedro de Maceda, with the recumbent figure of the nobleman Xoán de Nóvoa carved in stone over the funerary chest, one of the finest funerary examples in the comarca.
Historical milestone
The Castelo de Maceda, badly damaged in the 15th-century Great Irmandiño War, was declared a monumento histórico-artístico by decree of the 22nd of April 1949; the restoration of the 1990s restored its original volume, and today it operates as a hotel-monument.
Food and drink
A traditional market of the town where livestock, sausages, cheeses, bread and garden produce from the surrounding parishes are sold; it also works as a social meeting point of the rural upper Arnoia.
Curiosity
Carnival masks proper to the concello, with a wooden face mask, a decorated hat and a belt of little bells, which go through the hamlets imposing their law. They are relatives of the peliqueiros and the cigarróns of the Ourense entroido.