Vigo - Italy

Those early inhabitants of Vigo lived in settlements such as the one that can be visited near O Castro.  The way of life changed with the arrival of the Romans.  As well as the settlements the Romans also built salt mines, and they exploited them for fish salting.  The wealth produced bythis activity and by the trade allowed them to buildluxury villas.   The most powerful men enjoyed all kind of facilities on it, including hot water and heating.   One can get a good idea of how life was during that period by visiting the Roman villa at Mirambell, in Canido, and the remains of the salt mine at Rua rosalia de Castro.  The modern name, Vigo, is also a legacy from Roman times:  Vicus - Village.

Vigo continued to be a small village throughout the Middle Ages.   This period saw the emergence of the populated areas that we know today as Vigo rural parishes -  Bambribe, Coruxo, Castrelos etc, in which small Romanesque  churches were built.  However, the greatest monument from medieval Vigo is not made of stone, but of parchment - the cantigos de Amigo (Friend's Canticle) by Marti Codax, the first written testament of lyical troubadour writings in the calician - Potugese language.  Ondas do mar de Vigo, / se Vistes meu amigo / e hai Deus se Verra' cedo?

After the Romans, many others came toVigo nd not always with good intentions.  Plundering and looting were frequent all along the estuary until well into the 17th century Vikings, Normans, etc.,
The sea which had brought wealth tothe region, especially in the form of sardine fishing, also brought destruction.

None of these skirmishes, however, would be comparable with the naval battle of Rande, the Escuadro de La Plata, chased bya heavily armed Anglo- Dutch fleet, sought refuge in the Bay of Vigo in the autumn of 1702.   The battle was long and hard, and ended with the sinking of the Spanish fleet.

As well as its historical importance, the event led to the emergence of a legend which is comparable with El Dorado, as on the sea bed there still supposedly lies a treasure which is estimated to be worth thousands of millions of euros in gold and silver pieces which had comefrom mines in the colonies which the Spanish Empire still controlled in the Americas.  The legend has been the inspiration for a great many tales of adventure, the most famous of which is jules Verne's Twenty Thousand Leagues under the Sea.   Today, it still attrats treasure hnters from around the world.

Ranade would not be the last battle in 1809, the people of Vigo resisted the advance of the French invasion,finally driving out the occupying forces on the 28th March that same year.  Since then, this date has been commemorated as the Day of the Reconquest.

If the modern visitors arrive in the midst of the city's celebrations, they will see the re-enactment of those events, with hundreds of people wearing costumes of the period - both Spanish and French - and a 19" century open-air market complete with an old blind man reciting his ballads to the accompaniment of a hurdy gurdy.

For the part it played in the reconquest of Spain, the fishing town of Vigo was granted city status in 1810 in 1869 the city walls were knocked down, which had until then made a stronghold, only accessible seven gates.   Sol, Laxe, Placer, Camboa, Falperra, Del Mar and Berbes, which had been built in order to defend the city against marauding pirates and foreign enemies.

Their demolition allowed the city to expand toward the sea, with the building of the area that today includes the Praza de Compostela and the Avienda de Montero Rios.

The salting industry and the first canning plants occupied the Areal neighbourhood.   The urban axes upon which the modern city would be plotted were being drawn inthe direction of Madrid - Rua do Ramal, today renamed Rua Colon, up Rua Urzaiz along what had long been traditionally known as the Extracia de Vilacastin and towards Pontevedra along Policarpo Sanz and Carcia Barbon.

The Vigo of the early years of the 20th century had barely fifteen thousand inhabitants, although its port was already of great importance to the trade with Europe and the americas.  The city was also home to a booming industrial and commercial bourgeoise who hired the leading architects of the period in order to create a unique urban environment of impressive buildings built from the finest granite.   The Ensanche or new town today represents a splendid catalogue of the architectural styles which were
foremost during the transition from the 19" to the 20" century:  Spanish modernism, eclecticism and
regionalism.

Industry continued to grow, as did the city, which began to expand to the foothills of O Castro.  This period saw the emergence of the Casablanca neighbourhood and theurban development of the area around Gran Via inthe 1940s.   From the centre out to the suburbs, decade by decade Vigo was rapidly expanding, taking on the appearance of the city we know today.