[5] King Alfonso II (1211-1223) confirmed its charter in 1219 renaming the village with the current place names (Idanha-a-Nova) to distinguish it from the old Idanha (hereinafter Idanha-a-Velha), 18 kilometers away.
In terms of architectural heritage, Egitânia (Idanha-a-Velha) stands out as an archaeological site from the year 534, which was one of the most important cities in Lusitania at a time, with the remaining sections of Roman pavements and the Romanesque bridge, built over the Ponsul River.
His successor, King Alfonso II (1211-1223) confirmed this charter in 1219 renaming the village with the current place names (Idanha-a-Nova) to distinguish it from the old Idanha (hereinafter Idanha-a-Velha), 18 kilometers away.
In the late fifteenth century, King Manuel I of Portugal (1495–1521), was surprised with the difference in the development of the two Idanhas (1496) and in June 1510, recognizing the progress of Idanha-a-Nova, granted it new charter.
The massive exodus was due to economic reasons since the area remained cut-off from the rest of the country and neighboring Spain as well as largely underdeveloped throughout most of the 20th century.
It has a business area of 800 hectares, which includes the properties of Couto da Várzea, Ribeiro do Freixo and Lombas, as well as the Agricultural Logistics Center of Ladoeiro.
In the Green Valley, the Collaborative Laboratory (CoLAB) of the Agência Nacional de Inovação (National Innovation Agency) operates Idanha Food Lab, which brings together 14 entities from academia and the business community and is managed by Food4Sustainability.
[15] Administratively, the municipality (concelho) is divided into 13 civil parishes (freguesias):[16] Idanha-a-Nova has a Mediterranean climate (Köppen: Csa) with cool to mild, rainy winters and hot, dry summers.