Allande, Asturias: municipality guide

Allande is a municipality in western Asturias, part of the Narcea comarca. Its capital is Pola de Allande (La Puela). It is one of the largest municipalities in the region —339.37 km²— and one of the least populated, with about 1,500 inhabitants.

The municipality of Allande highlighted in green (western Asturias) on the map of Asturias

What to see in Allande

Pola de Allande (La Puela), the capital of the municipality, preserves excellent examples of indiano architecture from the first half of the 20th century: the mansion of Donato Fernández’s successors (Villa Rosario), the unique Ramos-Ron house —with its two large towers dominating the town— and the modernist Chalet de Las Veigas. Also worth a visit are the 16th-century church of San Andrés and the Town Hall, built in 1907.

Church of Santa María de Celón, Romanesque from the early 13th century. With a single nave and a vaulted apse, it houses important 16th-century mural paintings in its presbytery —the Passion of Christ and the Coronation of the Virgin— by the anonymous artist known as the Master of Celón.

Yew of Santa Coloma, declared a natural monument. It is one of the municipality’s centuries-old yews —along with those of Lago and Bustantigo—, witnesses of Allande’s native woodlands. Much of the municipal territory has been a protected landscape (Sierra de Carondio y Valledor) since 1994.

Cienfuegos palace (El Palaciu), on a hill overlooking Pola de Allande. First built in the 14th century and rebuilt in the 16th, its L-shaped plan with three towers had a sober, defensive appearance that was softened in the 18th century when it was adapted as the palatial residence of the Count of Peñalba.

San Ḷḷuís hillfort, the only excavated hillfort in the municipality, with a sequence of occupation starting in the Late Bronze Age (8th century BC) and continuing through the Iron Age and Roman times. It was directly linked to the Roman gold mines of the area —A Cova de Xan Rata, La Fana la Freita and the Montefurado tunnel— whose traces still mark the landscape.

Boxo cork oak grove, also declared a natural monument. This Mediterranean-type cork oak woodland is one of the botanical rarities of western Asturias and completes the municipality’s natural offering along with its oak, beech and chestnut forests, still home to the capercaillie, roe deer and bear.

Camino de Santiago: the Camino Primitivo — a UNESCO World Heritage site — crosses Allande through Pola de Allande, Lago, Berducedo (with a pilgrim hostel), El Mazo and Puerto del Palo, in the Sierra del Palo. It is one of the toughest stages of the Primitivo; in 2018 more than 12,000 pilgrims passed through here.

Getting there

Pola de Allande lies 106 km from Oviedo, 136 km from Gijón and 99 km from Avilés. The main access roads are the AS-14 (Grandas de Salime – Pola de Allande – Puente del Infierno), the AS-217 (Tineo – Pola de Allande) and the AS-219 (Luarca – Pola de Allande).

The municipality of Allande and its main towns · the capital, Pola de Allande, in gold

Municipality map: data © OpenStreetMap (ODbL). Own rendering, no Google, no cookies.

Festivals and gastronomy

The main festivals are those of Nuestra Señora de Avellano (L’Ablanu), in Pola de Allande, from 7 to 10 September, and Nuestra Señora de Bedramón, on 15 August, at the 17th-century sanctuary, where a spring is said —according to legend— to have curative properties for goitre. The livestock calendar highlights the San Miguel fairs of May (8 May) and September (29 September).