Piloña () is a municipality in the

province A province is almost always an administrative division within a country or sovereign state, state. The term derives from the ancient Roman ''Roman province, provincia'', which was the major territorial and administrative unit of the Roman Empire ...

and autonomous community of Asturias, northwestern

Spain , image_flag = Bandera de España.svg , image_coat = Escudo de España (mazonado).svg , national_motto = ''Plus ultra'' (Latin)(English: "Further Beyond") , national_anthem = (English: "Royal March") , i ...

. Its capital is the town of Infiesto. Piloña is bounded to the north by Villaviciosa and Colunga, to the east by Parres, to the west by Nava and

Cabranes Cabranes is a municipality in the Autonomous Community of the Principality of Asturias. Some Towns of cabranes are: Santolaya, Torazu, Fresnéu, Graméu, Pandenes, Viñón, Niao, Arboleya, etc. It is bordered on the north by Villaviciosa, on t ...

, and to the south by Ponga, Caso,

Sobrescobio Sobrescobio (; ast, Sobrescubiu) is a municipality in the Autonomous Community of the Principality of Asturias, Spain. It is bordered on the north by Piloña, on the east by Caso, on the south by Aller, and on the west by Laviana. It is situated ...

and Laviana. The area is semi-mountainous with many small, but deep and narrow valleys.

History

In prehistoric times there were paleolithic settlements in caves in Piloña such as Aviao (Espinaredo) Cave, Collaréu Cave, and La Peña Ferran (Ferran Rock) which were excavated by the Count de la Vega del Sella in the 1920s. There are several sites with paleolithic rock art and

Neanderthal Neanderthals (, also ''Homo neanderthalensis'' and erroneously ''Homo sapiens neanderthalensis''), also written as Neandertals, are an extinct species or subspecies of archaic humans who lived in Eurasia until about 40,000 years ago. While th ...

remains, including

Sidrón Cave The Sidrón Cave ( ast, Cueva del Sidrón) is a non-carboniferous limestone karst cave system located in the Piloña municipality of Asturias, northwestern Spain, where Paleolithic rock art and the fossils of more than a dozen Neanderthals were fo ...

in Borines. Piloña lies in a narrow basin that runs parallel with the coast. Over time it formed part of the natural path between

Oviedo Oviedo (; ast, Uviéu ) is the capital city of the Principality of Asturias in northern Spain and the administrative and commercial centre of the region. It is also the name of the municipality that contains the city. Oviedo is located ap ...

and

Cangas de Onís Cangas de Onís ( Asturian: ''Cangues d'Onís'' "valleys of Onís"'' Canga'' (plural ''cangues'') is an Asturian word for "valley, canyon".) is a municipality in the eastern part of the province and autonomous community of Asturias in the nor ...

, which connects central Asturias with the Asturian east. Piloña was the largest settlement along that path. In Roman times

Beloncio Beloncio is one of 24 parishes (administrative divisions) in Piloña, a municipality within the province and autonomous community of Asturias, in northern Spain , image_flag = Bandera de España.svg , image_coat = Escu ...

was occupied, and is identified with the town Paelontium mentioned by Ptolemy as the capital of the

Astur The Astures or Asturs, also named Astyrs, were the Hispano-Celtic language, Hispano-Celtic inhabitants of the northwest area of Hispania that now comprises almost the entire modern autonomous community of Principality of Asturias, the modern prov ...

tribe known as Lugones. There is also evidence of Roman occupation at Borines.

Economics

The area is poor and depopulating. There were over 20,000 inhabitants in 1930; 8,799 in 2001; and 8,440 in 2005. The three largest towns are Infiesto (with about 20% of the population), Villamayor and Sevares. All three are on the Piloña River, a left-hand tributary of the

Sella River The Sella is a river located in northwest Spain. It flows through the region of Asturias from the Picos de Europa to the Bay of Biscay of the Atlantic Ocean at Ribadesella Ribadesella (Asturian: Ribeseya) is a small municipality in the ...

, and on the main highway, the N-634. The area is agricultural with cattle being raised for both milk and meat, and with some production of forest products.

Parishes

There are 24 parishes (administrative divisions):

References

External links

Virtual Guide to Piloña, in Spanish

* ttps://web.archive.org/web/20091115104838/http://www.piloastur.com/ Photo Archive of Piloña {{DEFAULTSORT:Pilona Municipalities in Asturias * Astures