Quinta (estate)

In urban contexts, quintas may often be walled-off mansions in city centers, but the term may also be applied to edifices once located in a more rural setting that have since been developed.

In Madeira, the term "quinta" usually refers to a rustic or urban property, of greater or lesser extent, walled in all or at least a considerable part of its perimeter, always containing a good dwelling house, surrounded by gardens and pavements lined with clumps of trees.

There are many quintas that cover land cultivated with vines and sugar cane, vegetable gardens, orchards and groves of trees.

The oldest ones usually have an adjoining chapel in addition to the main house, which was once for the private use of their owners,[2] while the ones in urban areas are known to have casinhas de prazer.

[3][4] These small houses, Romanesque in inspiration, were built on the garden walls facing the main street in painted wood or stone, with windows fitted with bilhardeiras - small vertical folds that softened the slope of the sun shades, improving the view from the inside - and used for recreational purposes such as gossiping, embroidering, reading and card games.