In the small parishes of Asturias, being awarded the Exemplary Town award given each year by the Princess of Asturias Foundation is an honor and an opportunity. Because the day that the Heiress spends in the town on duty gives almost all the neighbors the opportunity to, at the very least, shake her hand. Many can also tell you what they do and even get a selfie.
This year, the Exemplary Town was awarded to the parishes of Arroes, Pion and Candanal, in Villaviciosa. The Royal Family arrived there by car at half past eleven in the morning and prepared for the intense day. There are three neighboring parishes with a total of 1,029 inhabitants and their population increased by 11% as a result of Covid. The majority of the residents live from agricultural and agri-food activities. Along the road you can see large areas of orchards and cows, numerous beef cows, since the crisis in the dairy sector has caused towns with a tradition of dairy cows to change their farms to beef farms.
The Royal Family, dressed in jeans and sneakers, shook more than half a thousand hands and learned about the most typical things from the area. By coincidence, it was International Apple Day and the Royal Family visited an orchard and learned the process to make cider, the most precious apple juice. Queen Letizia knows how to pour, something that schoolchildren learn on numerous visits to Asturian towns, and that she internalized during her childhood. The wife of Felipe VI already knew this area of the Principality, but not the King, nor the Princess and the Infanta, which was the first time they went to Villaviciosa.
The Royal Family has seen a typical agri-food market, where the Queen chose some handmade earrings that she hung in her ears, and they were given a basket with local vegetables. A folkloric group performed the Xiringuelu, a typical Asturian dance that is danced in pairs. There was no shortage of bagpipes, since this is the land of the master piper Ramón García Tuero, to whom they paid tribute. With neighbors almost at every corner of the route, the Royal Family worked hard to please everyone. In fact, a girl stayed chatting with Princess Leonor, to whom she gave a necklace with photos. “You are the example that a village is also a good place for technological and social innovation. And because in the three parishes you have known how to share values, concerns and cultural and family ties to continue building a more favorable environment and a better future,” highlighted the Princess during the institutional event, which was held in Arroes. There, the King also highlighted the area as “an example of how small communities treasure fundamental values for the progress of society: respect for the environment, the harmony between tradition and sustainable development and neighborhood cooperation, through exchange of experiences and knowledge”.
“You are the symbol,” the King continued, “of the virtues with which you can build a dynamic life. By understanding that it is only possible to do so by respecting and caring for the best of the past.”
From Arroes the Royal Family moved to Pion and Candanal, where there was no shortage of cider. The Kings and their daughters saw the board game designed by the children of the Les Mariñes Rural Grouped School and Don Felipe and Doña Letizia tried a freshly poured culín. The visit included the presentation to the Royal Family of Galo, a 1,280 kilo bull distinguished with the title of Mr. Asturian Veal, a sought-after stallion from some residents of Pión.