This forest featuring exceptional chestnut and oak trees was owned by the Quiroga de Catasós family, who lived in the “Pazo” here. In 1864, one of the heirs of this “Pazo” married the young Emilia PardoBazán, who years later would write a large part of her book “OsPazos de Ulloa” in Lalín’s “Pazo de Quiroga”.

Beside the ancestral home, today there arises this woodland that extends along the so-called Val de Fernando, with oak and chestnut trees that have been studied by scientists and admired by plant physiologists from different parts of the world.

These chestnut trees with a height of 30 metres and a perimeter of 5.5 metres are considered to be those of the greatest annual growth rate in Europe. In 1954, they were visited by the North American phytopathologistFlippo Gravatt, who proposed their protection before the FAO (United Nation’s Food and Agriculture Organization). In 1998, they became the property of the regional Agriculture and Environment Department.

The forest was declared a National Monument in aXunta de Galicia cabinet meeting in the year 2000.

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Fraga de Catasós