Pesoz, Asturias: municipality guide

Pesoz is a municipality in western Asturias with 134 inhabitants on 38.97 km². It is a single-parish municipality —the parish being Pesoz itself (Pezós in Eonavian)— set between the Agüeira and Navia rivers, in the wine lands of western Asturias.

Things to see in Pesoz

The jewel of its civil heritage is the Palacio de Ron, a 17th-century palace built in the stone and slate typical of the area and declared a Cultural Heritage Site (Bien de Interés Cultural). It was the ancestral home of the Ron family —whose arms appear on the municipal coat of arms— and its grounds preserve the 12th-century Tower of Pesoz. The palace is now known as the Palacio de Monteserín.

The 17th-century Palacio de Ron in Pesoz. — Photo: Wikimedia Commons / Pañeda (GFDL)

On the religious side, the church of Santiago de Pesoz, in the municipal capital, is of Romanesque origin, with an apse decorated with paintings of the life of Christ, a 15th-century doorway and 17th- and 20th-century chapels. And on the boundary with San Martín de Oscos rise the hillforts of Santa Cruz de Pesoz and San Isidro, witnesses to Castro-culture Asturias.

The Ethnological Museum tells the story of the vineyards of western Asturias, for Pesoz is wine country within the Cangas wine D.O.P. Water is another protagonist: the Agüeira river joins the Navia near Pelorde, and the Doiras reservoir shapes one of the municipality’s most spectacular landscapes. A visit to Argul is a must: a village declared a Cultural Heritage Site in 2004, unique in Asturias for its architecture of galleries and tunnels with houses literally leaning on the rock, and birthplace of the Baroque sculptor Juan Alonso Villabrille y Ron, who worked at the court of Philip V.

The village of Argul, in the municipality of Pesoz, with its stone and slate houses. — Photo: Wikimedia Commons / Adolfofernandezdotcom (CC BY-SA 4.0)

Getting there

The AS-12 (Navia–Boal–Illano–Pesoz–Grandas de Salime) crosses the municipality through Pelorde, Villabrille and Francos, and the AS-13 connects it with Los Oscos and Vegadeo. Grandas de Salime is 7 km away, Navia 61 km and Oviedo 198 km.

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

Festivals and gastronomy

The festive calendar spreads celebrations across the municipality: the Assumption in Pesoz (16 August), San Roque in Vilabrille (16 August), San Bartolomé in Serán (24 August), San Lorenzo in Lixóu (10 August), Santa Marína in Vilarmarzo (18 July), San Juan in Sanzo (24 June), San Antonio in Francos (13 June) and the Sanzo carnival, plus a popular wine festival. At the table, Pesoz is Cangas wine D.O.P. territory; at festivals there is no shortage of hearty broths, stews and beef and pork, and for dessert the “maravillas de Pesoz”, typical fried sweets.