Vila Adentro Restaurant

This space, now known as a restaurant, hides layers – coverings and uses that have been replaced and renewed over time. We use a subterranean gaze to unveil these layers, beginning precisely in the underground of Vila Adentro, a hermetic place that hides a tunnel. Thinking about it and situating it are tasks that offer us two paths: one historical, the other romantic and constructed by force of deduction. In the light of archaeology, it is confirmed that the house dates back to the 15th century. To this evidence is added the fact that, after the earthquake that devastated Portugal in 1755, the house was rebuilt and expanded. Despite this reconstruction, there are remains that have been preserved, frozen in time and space: the door of the confectionery that we find today in Vila Adentro corresponded, once, to the original door of the house. In addition, the wood and paint also remain original, which means that they have already been around for at least half a millennium.

If we choose the romantic route, we enter a universe of myths and legends, more or less founded: it is said that the Vila Adentro building served as headquarters during the Moorish occupation of the old city, until around 1248, with the tunnel serving as an escape route when the city was besieged.