[3] One of the largest in the Iberian Peninsula, it was the precursor to the Galician organized community of Cividade Gallaeci; the hill fort is dotted with traces of various cultures: Galician-Lusitanian, Roman, Visigoth and Moorish.

[3] With the consolidation and incorporation into the Roman world, these hill forts were reorganized and moved down from the hilltops, dispersing into concentrated settlements in open areas and encircled by cultivated parcels, such as in Bouça do Ouro (Boelhe).

[3] In addition, vains of gold interspersed in the Schist and Quartzite quarries attracted Roman settlers from the empire, resulting in an intense artisanal economy, supported by the circulation of a single currency, culture and language.

Supporting a rich cultural influence, Paço de Sousa boasted a magnificent Romanesque architecture and gave shelter to the historian Egas Moniz Ribadouro, schoolmaster of Afonso Henriques.

[3] During this time emerged a new reality: a fortified settlement that developed in the parish of Moazares, home of the Romanesque church of Santa Luzia (circled by sculpted tombs) was along the banks of the river, along the roadway from Porto and crossing the Sousa at the medieval bridge of Cepeda was an ideal local to build an urban community to specialize in services, artesnal commerce and sale of manufactured goods, supported by a medieval fair.

[3] The site was crossed by various roads, where João Correia, a rich Portoense merchant with contracts in Flanders established his home; he was a new Christian, who raised a Manueline chapel to the Holy Spirit (and who erected his bronze funerary tomb).

[3] As it grew, Arrifana assumed as patron saint São Martinho (Marin), and in the middle of the 16th century, a new Mannerist temple was constructed over the old chapel of João Correia.

[3] Arrifana de Sousa continued to grow as a centre of services and industry, supported by an annual fair on the feast day of São Martinho, resulting in the expansion of the urban environment to the upper elevations and the construction of the Church of the Misericórdia.

The Pope appointed the Carmelite Friar Inácio de São Caetano (born 1718.07.31), confessor of the future Queen Maria I of Portugal (then Princess of Brazil), as its first prelate.

[3] But he would never administer the Diocese (as he was in Brazil), and was eventually convinced by the Queen to give-up the bishopric,[3] consoled with a nominal promotion as Titular Archbishop of Thessalonica (1778.12.14 – death 1788.11.29),[4] while she successfully requested the Holy See to undo the See creation.

[3] The first example was the "royal roadways" that date to the medieval period, that connect Porto and the Trás-os-Montes, that resulted the development of the urban centre, that was a fulcrum in supporting transiting peoples and goods.

Penafiel has a Mediterranean climate (Köppen: Csb) with cool to mild, rainy winters and warm to hot, dry summers With 28 civil parishes it includes a resident population of 72,000 inhabitants (approximately 338.4 people per kilometre square), integrated into the Associação de Municípios do Vale do Sousa (Vale de Sousa Municipal Association) and NUTSIII Tâmega Subregion.

Extraction industries, civil construction firms and commerce employs a large number of workers, in addition to a strong concentration of service sector activities, confirmed by a Penafiel's central place in the regional economy.

But, over time and through the influence of various cultural groups (Romans, Visigoths, Moors) the area began to evolve into a modern centre, marked by the evolution in its architecture from rudimentary stone dolmens to signeurial manorhouses and monumental estates.