Sariego, Asturias: municipality guide

Sariego (Sariegu in Asturian) is a municipality in central Asturias, a large valley ringed by gentle mountains where the river Nora is born. Its capital is Vega. With 1,265 inhabitants and 25.73 km², it is a rural municipality of meadows and pastures with a privileged position between Siero, Gijón, Villaviciosa and Nava. In 2006 it received the Exemplary Town of Asturias Award.

What to see in Sariego

The municipality is of great architectural interest for its three parish churches. The church of Santiago de Sariego is of pre-Romanesque origin and keeps three 10th-century windows from that period, with a later 16th-century star-vaulted chancel. On the hilltop overlooking the Nora valley rises the church of Santa María de Narzana, Romanesque from the 12th century, with historiated capitals on minstrel themes and a western doorway of three archivolts.

Church of Santiago el Mayor de Sariego. — Photo: Wikimedia Commons / Dayures (CC BY-SA 3.0 ES)

The third is the church of San Román, from the 13th century, with the typical structure of rural Asturian Romanesque. In Moral stands the 16th-century Vigil-Quiñones palace, of the noble family that controlled the valley and whose coat of arms appears on its towers. The river Nora rises in the northeast of the municipality, at the Ñora spring in Valvidares, and crosses it for 6 kilometres before flowing on towards Siero.

Romanesque church of Santa María de Narzana, in Sariego. — Photo: Wikimedia Commons / Ángel M. Felicísimo (CC BY 2.0)

Among the heights stand out the Fariu peak (731 m), on the boundary with Siero, and the Peña de los Cuatro Jueces, which separates the municipal terms of Sariego, Siero, Gijón and Villaviciosa. A hydrogeological curiosity: at Pozo Saláu a salt-water spring flows, 90% saltier than the sea according to analyses. Sariego was also a passing place on the historic pilgrimage itinerary to Santiago known as the “camino francés”, which crossed the municipality from Valdediós towards Siero and Oviedo.

The small municipality is easy to explore in a single morning, combining Romanesque art, noble architecture and riverside landscapes.

Getting there

Sariego lies right in the centre of Asturias, surrounded by Siero, Gijón, Villaviciosa and Nava; it is reached by the local roads linking it with these neighbouring municipalities.

Map of the municipality of Sariego: the capital, in gold. Data © OpenStreetMap (ODbL).

Festivals and gastronomy

The main festivals are those of Santiago, the weekend before 25 July, with mass in honour of the patron saint, barbecue, a cross-country race, orchestras and the characteristic Rural Prix. The one drawing most interest lately is San Pedrín de la Cueva, every third Sunday of August in Narzana, around the cave and a hermitage dating from 1133, with dances and traditional Asturian sports. The calendar is completed by La Jira and the fiestas of La Peña de los Cuatro Jueces (6 June) and the revived esfoyaza, linked to the maize harvest.