Alcanena

According to studies, Alcanena dates back to the Moorish occupation of the Peninsula Period and has preserved some inheritance of that time, such as its name and, since then, the most important industry in the region: the Tannery and Leather production.
The Alcanena municipality is nowadays mostly a territory characterized by the leather industrial activity, which is its mainly economical base, followed by the also important textile industry.

The most part of Alcanena municipality is located in the beautiful Serra de Aires e Candeeiros Natural Park, in a chalky underneath the surface area with beautiful natural caves and water courses, and above the ground lovely vegetation and a rocky soil.
Alcanena, historically, is a Republican locality and had a great development on the 19th century, with, of course, the leather industry, and has some interesting highlights, such as the Monsanto (18th century) and the Louriceira (16th century) Churches, or the Alviela River Springs, with a river beach, an environmental interpretation centre, a campsite, among other facilities, in order to preserve this nature blessing. Alcanena region also offers the beautiful Mata de Minde (a small forest that in winter time gets flooded and forms a charming pond), all the Caves and Grottoes and the various natural viewpoints all over the territory in order to observe the beauty of the surrounding landscape.

The region’s Gastronomy has some delicious local products such as the Serra de Aire cheeses, the rosemary honey, the famous different types of sausages (the most famous is “morcela de arroz”), the roasted goat-kid and, of course, the typical pastry based on almond, honey, eggs, sugar and cinnamon.

In what concerns to handicraft, the Alcanena region is, naturally, specialized on leather hand-made objects and crafts, but also the famous Minde Blankets, the textile handmade dolls, as well as different carved wood objects.