IDANHA-A-VELHA is a small village in the district of Castelo Branco, with a granite block of houses and a picturesque ambiance, for the remarkable set of Visigoth ruins that it preserves, and it occupies a pre-eminent place in the archaeology stations of the country.
In the Visigoth period, Idanha-a-Velha, by that time denominated Egitânea, was the capital of the Igaeditani, a pre-Roman people.
One can find the ruins of a Cathedral from the 6th and 7th century’s AD, when the village was still the headquarter of one episcopacy. From the same period is the Visigoth “barn”, which can be found at the northern entrance of the village.
MONSANTO, Ex-Libris of the Portuguese villages, it is the oldest village of Portugal, also considered the most Portuguese of Portugal. It is situated on a hillside, and, because of its difficult accessibility, it became a natural fortress.
One can observe from there:
The Pre-Roman Castle, where tomahawks, and other objects from the Neolithic period have been found, the Matrix Church, the Watch Tower, or Lucano’s Tower, having on top (in forged iron) a silver cock, first price on a competition for “The oldest Village of Portugal”, in 1938.
Penha Garcia and Monfortinho SPA, beautiful places, where one can become breathless just by watching the landscape.