The Roman Walls of Lugo

Lugo's wall was built in the late third century and never came down. Over two kilometres of slate and granite rubble faced in stone still make a closed circuit around the old town, with dozens of surviving semicircular towers and ten gates, some Roman and some cut later for traffic. The walkway on top is public, free and open long hours, so locals use it as a running track and a shortcut as much as a monument. Inside the ring are the cathedral, a Roman house preserved under a modern building and the arcaded Praza do Campo. Pilgrims on the Camino Primitivo pass straight through.

History

The walls were built between 263 and 276 to defend the Roman town of Lucus Augusti, in the province of Hispania Tarraconensis. In the Middle Ages pilgrims bound for Santiago de Compostela passed through the gates, especially the Porta Miña, which still has its original vaulted arch between two towers; of the ten gates, five are Roman and five were opened after 1853 for the growing town. The walls have been a protected monument since 1921 and joined the UNESCO list in 2000 as the finest example of late Roman fortifications in western Europe, and since then Lugo has held the Arde Lucus festival each year to celebrate its Roman past (Wikipedia, Roman walls of Lugo).

Highlights

• The full circuit - a continuous walk on top of the wall right around the old town.
• The surviving towers - dozens of semicircular projections, some with stair bases intact.
• The Roman gates - original openings alongside wider arches cut in later centuries.
• Praza do Campo - the arcaded square at the centre of the walled town.

When to go

Summer gives the best odds on dry weather, though Galicia can rain in any month and the walkway is slippery when wet. Early evening is when the town uses the wall itself, which is the nicest time to join it. The whole loop takes around forty minutes at a steady pace, more if you stop at every tower.

Good to know

From the top you look mostly at rooftops, car parks and traffic; the wall is far more impressive seen from the street below. Lugo is a modest provincial city and, once the circuit and the cathedral are done, there is not much queueing for your attention. It rains a great deal, and parking near the gates is tight.

Nearby

The Camino Primitivo trail, the Ribeira Sacra canyons and the Galician coast at A Coruna.

Key facts