Idanha-a-Nova ( ), officially the Town of Idanha-a-Nova (), is a town and municipality in the district of Castelo Branco, in east-central Portugal. A border municipality with Spain, the population of the municipality in 2011 was 9,716,[ Instituto Nacional de Estatística]
History
There are numerous prehistoric vestiges of human occupation throughout the municipality of Idanha-a-Nova (Idanha "the new"), such as
and
.
Roman people had an important influence, namely in the civil parishes of Monsanto,
Idanha-a-Velha (Idanha "the old", formerly known as the Roman
Civitas Igaeditanorum and the
Germanic peoples Egitânia) and
Ladoeiro and in the countryside around the town of Idanha-a-Nova proper, where there was a
Roman villa, immortalized in an ancient
mosaic. After the fall of the Roman Empire, the
Suevi and
Visigoths dominated, and is from that time the creation of the now extinct Bishopric of Egitânia. In terms of architectural heritage, Egitânia (Idanha-a-Velha) stands out as an archaeological site from the year 534, which was one of the most important cities in
Lusitania at a time, with the remaining sections of Roman pavements and the Romanesque bridge, built over the
Ponsul River. In 1187, a castle was built by
Gualdim Pais, a Portuguese
Crusades,
Knight Templar in the service of Afonso Henriques of Portugal. King Sancho I (1185-1211) granted Idanha a
Foral in 1201 in order to encourage the settlement and defence of the land. His successor, King Alfonso II (1211-1223) confirmed this charter in 1219 renaming the village with the current place names (Idanha-a-Nova) to distinguish it from the old Idanha (hereinafter Idanha-a-Velha), 18 kilometers away. The village of Idanha-a-Nova has developed a lot since then, at the same time Idanha-a-Velha went into steady decline. In the late fifteenth century, King Manuel I of Portugal (1495–1521), was surprised with the difference in the development of the two Idanhas (1496) and in June 1510, recognizing the progress of Idanha-a-Nova, granted it new charter. At this time, the town and its castle, including the layout, was recorded down by Duarte de Armas in his Book of Fortresses in 1509.
A border municipality with Spain, the whole area was theatre of war, skirmishes and invasions throughout several periods in Portuguese history. A large part of the population of the entire area migrated to other parts of Portugal and foreign countries from the 1960s onwards. The massive exodus was due to economic reasons since the area remained cut-off from the rest of the country and neighboring Spain as well as largely underdeveloped throughout most of the 20th century. From the 2000s to the early 2020s,
thanks to EU structural and cohesion funds, inland Portugal's settlement policies, the rise of tourism in Portugal and a wave of foreign direct investment, the depopulation phenomenon was mitigated but the municipality is still characterized by stagnation in population growth and intense population ageing.
Economy
The economy of the municipality of Idanha-a-Nova revolves around
agriculture,
animal husbandry,
forestry,
tourism,
local government and
agribusiness. The municipality has excelled in sustainable farming,
seed,
cheesemaking and
horticulture,
as well as a center of
olive and
almond production and processing. The town of Idanha-a-Nova has a large variety of shops, cafés and restaurants. The largest
supermarket in the town is a Intermarché. The Marechal Carmona Dam, a
gravity dam, is within the municipality. Near the reservoir of this dam, on its left bank, the
camping park of Idanha is found. The municipality of Idanha-a-Nova has hosted the internationally renowned
Boom Festival since 2002. The Corpo Nacional de Escutas (CNE, National Corps of Scouts), the largest Portuguese scouting organization, has a major, permanent scout centre in the municipality of Idanha-a-Nova where Portugal's National Scout
/ref> and the National Scout Jamboree (ACANAC),
[Acampamento nacional reúne mais de 18 mil escuteiros em Idanha-a-Nova,
/ref> the population of the municipality temporarily increases several fold. Termas de Monfortinho spa town is also located in the municipality.
]
Green Valley Food Lab
The Green Valley Food Lab is a rural-based business park in Idanha-a-Nova, which is an evolution of the previous award-winning rural-based incubator. It was designed by the local authorities of Idanha-a-Nova as a Portuguese "Silicon Valley" of the rural world. It has a business area of 800 , which includes the properties of Couto da Várzea, Ribeiro do Freixo and Lombas, as well as the Agricultural Logistics Center of Ladoeiro. In terms of companies, by 2020, there were 55 companies located in the Green Valley Food Lab (22 blueberry producers, the largest continuous area of organic farming blueberry production in Europe; 60 hectares of Opuntia ficus-indica production; as well as genetic improvement of animal production; ;
Education
Besides kindergarten and schools with classes from the 1st to the 12th grade, Idanha-a-Nova is home to an institution of higher education, the business management school of the Polytechnic Institute of Castelo Branco.
Parishes
Administratively, the municipality (
concelho) is divided into 13 civil parishes (
freguesias):
-
Aldeia de Santa Margarida
-
Idanha-a-Nova e Alcafozes (includes the town of Idanha-a-Nova, the seat of the municipality, and the village of Alcafozes)
-
Ladoeiro
-
Medelim
-
Monfortinho e Salvaterra do Extremo
-
Monsanto e Idanha-a-Velha
-
Oledo
-
Penha Garcia
-
Proença-a-Velha
-
Rosmaninhal
-
São Miguel de Acha
-
Toulões
-
Zebreira e Segura (includes the town of Zebreira)
Climate
Idanha-a-Nova has a Mediterranean climate (Köppen:
Csa) with cool to mild, rainy winters and hot, dry summers. The town is located at roughly altitude. Places at lower elevations (e.g. Ladoeiro, shown below) can get even hotter in the summer, with average daily temperatures rounding in July and August; experiencing on average 89 days with above 30 °C maximums and 54 days with below 0 °C minimums per year.
Notable individuals
Notable individuals of the municipality of Idanha-a-Nova include:
Olden times
-
Pope Damasus I (ca.305 – 384) a Pope who was born in Egitânia or Vimaranes.
-
Amador of Portugal hermit and saint, born in Monsanto.
-
King Wamba (ca.643 – 687/688) Visigothic king, from 672 to 680; born in Egitânia (disputed).
-
Roderic, Visigothic king in Hispania between 710 and 711, said to have been buried in Egitânia (disputed).
Modern times
-
Teófilo Duarte (1898–1958) a colonial administrator, military officer and politician; supported the Estado Novo
-
Manuel de Paiva Boléo (1904–1992) was a professor of Romance philology and Portuguese linguistics.
-
Manuel d'Almeida Trindade (1918 in Monsanto – 2008) Bishop of Roman Catholic Diocese of Aveiro
-
Luís Filipe de Castro Mendes (born 1950) Portuguese politician who served as Minister of Culture.
See also
External links
