Villardiegua de la Ribera

Villardiegua de la Ribera municipality
Villardiegua de la Ribera - Verraco
coat of arms	Map of Spain
Help on coat of arms
Basic data
Autonomous Community :	Castile and Leon
Province :	Zamora
Comarca :	Sayago
Coordinates	41 ° 32 ′  N , 6 ° 11 ′  W Coordinates: 41 ° 32 ′  N , 6 ° 11 ′  W
Height :	734  msnm
Area :	28.85 km²
Residents :	127 (Jan. 1, 2019)
Population density :	4.4 inhabitants / km²
Postal code :	49250
Municipality number  ( INE ):	49265
administration
Website :	www.ayuntamiento.org/villardiegua-de-la-ribera.htm

Villardiegua de la Ribera is a municipality ( municipio ) in northern Spain in the province of Zamora in the autonomous community of Castile and León .

location

Villardiegua de la Ribera is located in the southwest of the province of Zamora at an altitude of about 730 meters above sea level. d. M. in the rocky landscape of the Arribes del Duero Natural Park near the border with Portugal formed by the Duero River . The lovely village of Tudera is about 15 kilometers south; to the Portuguese border town of Miranda do Douro it is about 19 kilometers in a south-westerly direction. The provincial capital Zamora is about 52 kilometers (driving distance) to the northeast.

Population development

year	1950	1960	1970	1981	1991	2000
Residents	569	504	310	226	178	177

In the first half of the 20th century, the population fluctuated between around 530 and 670. As a result of the mechanization of agriculture , the population has continuously declined since the 1950s to the current low.

economy

Agriculture, especially the planting of vines , olive and fruit trees, traditionally plays the largest role in the municipality's economic life. In addition, the place functioned as a trade, craft and service center for the villages and hamlets in the region as early as the Middle Ages. Income from tourism in the form of renting out holiday homes ( casas rurales ) has increased over the last few decades.

history

Already in pre-Roman times, tribal groups from the Celtic people of the Vettones settled here , who were founded by the Romans in 193 BC. Were subjected to BC. Hardly any finds are known from Visigothic and Islamic times . The reconquest ( reconquista ) of the sparsely populated and remote areas in the 11th and 12th centuries proceeded largely without bloodshed; then began the resettlement - or better - new settlement ( repoblación ). The land belonging to the crown property was distributed to individual landlords ( señores ) in the 14th century , who from then on secured the border with Portugal.

Attractions

• In the village there is one of the pre-Roman Verraco figures, which are commonly assigned to the Celtic tribe of the Vettones. In the present case, there is a high probability that it is a bull . The figure originally stood in the hamlet of San Mamede, four kilometers southwest of today's town .
• Also from the hamlet of San Mamede come about 20 Roman grave steles , some of which were walled up in the walls of the houses in Villardiegua.
• A castle ( castillo ), of which only ruins are preserved, once rose in the hamlet of San Mamede . Later a hermit church ( ermita ) was built here, which is also only preserved as a ruin.
• The single-nave parish church from the 16th century has a renaissance- style bell gable above the entrance-free and otherwise completely unadorned west facade; next to it there is a porch ( portico ) on the south side.
• One of four rough-hewn granite stones erected livestock crush ( potro de herrar ) stands on the outskirts.

Web links

Commons : Villardiegua de la Ribera  - Collection of images, videos and audio files

• Villardiegua de la Ribera - Photos
• Villardiegua de la Ribera, church - photos

Individual evidence

1. ↑ Cifras oficiales de población resultantes de la revisión del Padrón municipal a 1 de enero . Population statistics from the Instituto Nacional de Estadística (population update).