The roots of the Pazo de Vilar de Francos date back to the times of Charles I, five centuries ago. It was built around an old defensive tower from the 16th century and is within a large estate surrounded by a sturdy wall with battlements. The visit is certainly worth it: a complex formed by the imposing pazo, mostly built in the 17th century, with the four-story tower at its center, a beautiful garden, the caretakers’ house, an old granary, a stone cross, and the chapel dedicated to Saint Anthony of Padua. During the life of the marquis, the feast of Saint Anthony, on June 13th, was used to open the doors of the pazo to the local community. Outside the walls, in a nearby estate, you will find the oak of Saint Anthony, which is already several hundred years old. The majorat of Vilar de Francos originated in the time of Charles V, stemming from the marriage of a member of the Pardiñas family, who had a manor in the tower of Pardiñas, with a woman from the Vilardefrancos family. From this lineage comes Fabián Pardiñas Vilardefrancos, a 17th-century Galician poet who became the dean of the Cathedral of Santiago. In the 19th century, the pazo was purchased by the Marquises of Atalaya. The last Marquis of Atalaya to inhabit the pazo, José Antonio Martínez de Pisón, was a military man who fought for the Francoist side in the Civil War. He survived the well-known shipwreck of the ship Castillo de Olite, in which more than a thousand people died. The vessel was sunk by the Republican army in 1939 while heading to Cartagena.