Villaviciosa

The land around Villaviciosa has been inhabited since the Asturian Epipaleolithic period, and the area is still dotted with megalithic monuments. Iron Age hill forts followed, most of them strung along the estuary closer to the western coast. The Romans left a clearer mark: inscribed slabs and funerary stelae survive in churches across the district, and Roman villa remains found at the mouth of the estuary at Rodiles are thought to mark the site of the ancient settlement of Noega.

During the Asturian monarchy, people shifted inland to places such as Amandi, Camoca and Bedriñana, and the area was recorded under the name territorio maliayo. In the thirteenth century Alfonso IX began to organise the council, and in 1270 Alfonso X el Sabio granted a formal founding charter, dated in Vitoria on 17 October, establishing the town at a place called Buetes. At roughly the same time, a Cistercian order founded the monastery of Valdediós in the valley, which became a local jurisdictional authority and a civilising force in the region.

By the following century the settlement had taken the name Villaviciosa, a reference to the exceptional fertility of its land. Late in the century a fire destroyed the town entirely, and the Catholic Monarchs sent funds for its reconstruction. The town's position on the coastal pilgrimage route to Santiago meant a hospital already stood near the church of Santa María to serve passing pilgrims.

The sixteenth century brought one of the council's most celebrated moments: in 1517 the Emperor Charles I of Spain landed at the nearby port of Tazones, blown off course by a storm, and made his way to Villaviciosa. He stayed at the house of Rodrigo de Hevia for three days and four nights, received local councillors, then continued overland to Colunga. That same century saw a wave of construction, noble manor houses, palaces and small squares, much of which still stands.

Franciscans later founded a convent in the town to spread the teachings of the Council of Trent; their church survives today as the parish church.

Villaviciosa holds an unusually complete collection of Romanesque and pre-Romanesque architecture. The centrepiece is the complex at Valdediós: the pre-Romanesque church of San Salvador de Valdediós, known as El Conventín, the adjacent Romanesque church of Santa María, and the monastery beside them. Built by Alfonso III el Magno and dating from the ninth century, El Conventín has three naves and three chapels, with surviving carved capitals and mural paintings. Its late pre-Romanesque style shows faint Mozarabic influence. Santa María alongside it is Romanesque, also with three naves ending in semicircular apses, and carries a foundation inscription dated 1218. The whole complex is listed as a UNESCO World Heritage Site.

Several other churches in the district are designated national monuments. Santa María de la Anunciación (La Oliva) sits stylistically between Romanesque and Gothic, with a single nave and a wooden ceiling. San Salvador de Priesca has three naves and three barrel-vaulted chapels with mural paintings. San Salvador de Fuentes was built in 1021 and has a single nave with a triumphal arch on carved capitals. San Juan de Amandi, from the first half of the Romanesque period, is noted for its fine buttresses and richly carved historiated capitals. San Andrés in Bedriñana preserves original windows and an early stone lattice screen. Santa María de Lugás is a sanctuary that draws the second-largest pilgrimage procession in the whole of Asturias, and retains two Romanesque doorways and a triumphal arch.

The town itself was declared a historic-artistic ensemble. Remnants of the medieval walls survive at the junction of Calle del Sol and Calle del Agua, and both streets retain well-preserved façades with characteristic Asturian galleries, projecting eaves and wooden balconies. Among the notable manor houses are the Casona de Valdés (three storeys with an attic), and the Palacio de la Torre de la Pedrera, whose doorway is a round arch flanked by Doric columns. The Casa de Hevia, where Charles I lodged, is a three-storey cubic block with two imperial-eagle shields on the second floor. The town hall in the Plaza del Huevo, built in 1906, is an eclectic two-storey building with stone balustraded balconies and a bell tower.

The nearest airport is Asturias, west of Avilés; take the hourly bus to Gijón and change. Direct buses also connect Madrid Airport T4 with Oviedo and Gijón. By road, Villaviciosa sits on the A-8 coastal highway; from Madrid follow the A-6/A-66 towards Oviedo then head east on the As-1 to the A-64 into town.

Alsa buses run hourly from Gijón (30 min) and Oviedo (60 min). The bus station is modern but has no information boards, toilets or waiting area. The town itself is compact and walkable, with about half a dozen taxis; you need your own transport to reach the beaches and outlying churches.

The Mercado Plaza de Abastos at Maliayo 1 trades Monday to Saturday 09:00–14:00, and around a dozen small supermarkets are open Monday to Saturday 09:00–21:00. As of December 2025, the town and its approach roads have 4G coverage from Vodafone and 5G from MasMovil, Movistar and Orange. Fish and shellfish dominate local menus, with beef and wild boar also available; around a dozen sidrerías in town serve traditional food alongside cider.

Try the local Villaviciosa cake, made with apples. Non-alcoholic cider exists, and Asturian wine from the Cangas DO is another option.