Santa Eulalia de Oscos, Asturias: municipality guide
Santa Eulalia de Oscos (Santalla d’Ozcos in Eonavian) is a municipality in western Asturias, in the heart of the Oscos region. Its capital is the town of Santa Eulalia de Oscos (Santalla). With 420 inhabitants and 47.12 km², it is a land of slate, forests and ironworks, part since 2007 of the UNESCO Río Eo, Oscos and Tierras de Burón Biosphere Reserve.
What to see in Santa Eulalia de Oscos
The Mazonovo Ethnographic Complex, about 5 kilometres from the capital, is the municipality’s great tourist attraction: a forge hammer (mazo) and forge fully restored to explain the iron industry that shaped the region for centuries. Water, which powered the hammers, still stars in the landscape: the river Agüeira crosses the municipality and the river Murias offers the spectacular Seimeira waterfall, an unmissable spot.
In Ferreirela de Baxo stands the birthplace museum of the Marquis of Sargadelos, an 18th-century building devoted to Antonio Raimundo Ibáñez, the enlightened figure who promoted ironworks and the famous Sargadelos pottery. In the town, the church of Santa Eulalia keeps a Baroque altarpiece, and among the civil architecture stand out the Casona de La Pruida (17th–18th centuries) and the Casa de Aquel Cabo in Barcia, from 1762 and declared a cultural heritage site.
The traditional dwelling —slate walls and roofs, wood in beams and windows, hórreos and cabazos— blends into a landscape where 73% of the area is woodland. The Eonavian (Galician-Asturian) language is still spoken here, and the ironworking tradition lives on in the biennial Ferreiros meeting and the iron sculptures displayed in the town’s streets and squares. Rural tourism drives the municipality: services generate almost two-thirds of jobs, with a wide offer of accommodation and restaurants. In 2016 the Oscos region received the Exemplary Town of Asturias Award.
Getting there
The AS-27 road, arriving from the Alto de La Garganta, is the main access to the municipality and connects it with the rest of western Asturias.
Map of the municipality of Santa Eulalia de Oscos: the capital, in gold. Data © OpenStreetMap (ODbL).
Festivals and gastronomy
The patron festivals of San Roque —the last weekend of August, three days— are the most important celebration. The calendar includes the Corpus Christi flower carpets, the magosto (chestnut festival at the end of October, with roast chestnuts and sweet cider), the Santa Eulalia livestock fair (10 December), the Entroiro (carnival) and the Polavila, a traditional music festival held since 2018. The Crafts and Agri-food Fair and the biennial Ferreiros (Blacksmiths) Meeting are also celebrated.
Municipality facts
Coat of arms: Wikimedia Commons / Erlenmeyer (CC BY-SA 4.0)
- Capital: Santa Eulalia de Oscos
- Population: 420 inhabitants (INE 2025)
- Area: 47.12 km²
- Zone: Western
- Town Hall: Plaza Sargadelos, s/n, 33776 Santa Eulalia de Oscos. Tel. +34 985 62 60 32
Neighbouring municipalities
- Villanueva de Oscos
- San Martín de Oscos
- Grandas de Salime
- A Fonsagrada (Lugo, Galicia)
Useful links
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See it on the interactive map: The 78 municipalities of Asturias
