Description Lamego

Lamego is a city and county seat of the district of Viseu, located on the left bank of the river Balsemão, at the north-eastern foothills of the Serra de Montemuro, 12 km south of the Douro River. Village of very remote origin was a very important nucleus and got to be seat of bishopric in the period suevo (century I SAW) and visigótico. It was regained to the Moors by Fernando Magno in 1057. In the thirteenth century, Lamego was an important administrative and economic center, partly related to the establishment of a significant nucleus of Jews engaged in the work of metals, commerce and same medicine.

The county of Lamego (164 km2), with a rather rugged topography, between the Montemuro and Douro mountains, is essentially agricultural. It produces famous wines, fruit, cereals and meats, namely pigs, from which the tasty ham is made. The town of Lamego, located in the wine-growing area of ??the Douro, experienced a period of prosperity (eighteenth to mid-nineteenth century) connected to the apogee of Port wine.

After phylloxera and with the alteration of the commercial circuits, the city lost part of the warehouse function, living quite a lot of the floating population that attends secondary schools and for which it serves in the important military unit. It has distilleries of brandy and important wineries, which even produce a very popular sparkling wine.

From a monumental point of view, the city is very rich. The Sé is a very old building that has undergone immense and profound changes throughout the ages. From the medieval period the Castle survives - the set of walls, the square tower and the cistern - and the church of Almacave, Romanesque temple already outside the walls. From the late 16th century, early 17th century, although with interior baroque carvings, there are the churches of Santa Cruz and Desterro.

The Baroque period is, in fact, the most well represented in both civil architecture - several palaces - and in the religious. However, the Episcopal Palace, now the museum, is worth mentioning, and the Sanctuary of Senhora dos Remédios, located on the hill fronting the hill of the castle, with a monumental staircase and the church already rocaille, because the construction, begun in the middle of the eighteenth century , lasted until the XX.

It is also known for its gastronomy, in which its hams are distinguished, the "roasted goat with rice from the oven" and the production of wines, namely port wine, whose Demarcated Region is part, and sparkling wines.