European Museum Forum Assembly
and European Museum of the Year Award 2012
Welcome to Penafiel
The council of Penafiel holds an area of 212.2 km2 of the interfluves formed by the Douro, Tâmega and Sousa rivers, axis of the connection between the coast and inland.
With 38 parishes and more than 72,000 inhabitants (338.4 inhab. / Km2), integrates the Urban Community of the Sousa Valley, in a landscape of land and deep udders, where everything is green, more intense in the irrigated areas meadows and fields surrounded by fences and new vineyards, duller spots in forested areas with pine and eucalyptus.The population appears to be continuous, dense but spread, with many small units of industry and commerce in between with new homes and farmhouses, fields kept with dedication due to the part-time work; movements are also felt by the intensity of migration commuting in traffic and occupation along the roads.
The mining, construction and trade and services employ large numbers of workers as well as companies based in modern industrial areas, surpassed only by trade and services, confirming the tertiary vocation of the city and especially of its urban center, for two centuries the only town in the district beyond Porto.
