Langreo, Asturias: municipality guide

Langreo (Llangréu in Asturian) is a municipality in the central area of Asturias, in the Nalón district, right in the heart of the Mining Basins. It borders Siero, Noreña, Oviedo, Mieres and San Martín del Rey Aurelio. Its capital is the city of Langreo, made up of the districts of Riaño, Barros, Lada, La Felguera, Sama and Ciaño —La Felguera is the most populous—. With 38,612 inhabitants and 82.46 km², it is the fourth most populous municipality in the Principality and was one of the most important industrial centres in Spain.

What to see in Langreo

The history of Langreo is the history of Asturian industrialisation. Mining began in the 18th century, and in the 19th century the La Felguera factory, founded by Pedro Duro, became the most important steel centre in Spain. The Langreo Railway, the third on the peninsula, and the Carretera Carbonera drove an expansion that brought the municipality to more than 70,000 inhabitants in 1965. The subsequent reconversion, with the closure of the blast furnaces in the 1970s and of the last mine, the María Luisa pit, in 2016, left an extraordinary industrial heritage that is today the municipality’s main tourist attraction.

The iconic cooling tower of the old Duro Felguera power station, painted in colour stripes, home of the Asturias Steel Museum (MUSI) in La Felguera. — Photo: Wikimedia Commons / Yandrak (CC BY-SA 4.0)

The Asturias Steel Museum (MUSI), housed in the old Duro Felguera power station and recognisable by its cooling tower painted in colour stripes, and the Samuño Valley Mining Ecomuseum —with its mining train between La Nueva and El Cadavíu— allow visitors to experience that history on the ground. They are joined by pits and headframes such as María Luisa, Candín, San Luis (listed cultural heritage) and Fondón, the La Felguera station, the riveted iron bridges of Sama and the Eduardo Úrculo Art Gallery, installed in the old slaughterhouse.

Yellow mining train on the tracks of the Samuño Valley Mining Ecomuseum, between La Nueva and El Cadavíu. — Photo: Wikimedia Commons / B25es (CC BY-SA 3.0)

The religious and civil heritage is no less remarkable: the Carbayu sanctuary, dedicated to the patron saint of Langreo; the church of San Pedro de La Felguera, Neo-Romanesque and one of the largest churches in Asturias; the Romanesque church of San Esteban de Ciaño (listed cultural heritage); the Neo-Gothic church of Santiago de Sama; the Plaza de España in Sama, with the 19th-century town hall; and the Dolores Fernández Duro and Dorado parks, two of the oldest in Asturias.

The Nalón river, whose waters have run clean again since 1989 after decades of being dyed black by coal washing, shapes the valley, and the upper part of the municipality lies within the Cuencas Mineras Protected Landscape. La Felguera and Sama concentrate urban life, with their modern-movement architecture —the Dominican Fathers School, the Felgueroso Cinema— and their intense cultural life.

Getting there

Langreo is part of the central area of Asturias and is well connected by road and rail with Oviedo, Gijón and the rest of the region, with a dense network of motorways, dual carriageways and commuter trains connecting it to the eighteen municipalities of the metropolitan area.

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

Festivals and gastronomy

The main festivals are San Pedro in La Felguera (June) and Santiago in Sama (July), along with that of the patron saint, the Virgen del Carbayu, in September. The Antroxu (February), the Huevos Pintos in Sama (March), the La Felguera Cider Days (April), the Traditional Market (October) and the Su Excelencia la Fabada Days (December, declared of Regional Tourist Interest) complete a calendar in which gastronomy —fabada, cider, pote— plays a starring role.