At Porto Secreto our mission is to keep up with the news, but also to act as a guide to the city. That’s why we write about museums and restaurants, as well as our history. And this time we want to tell you more about the unmistakable Portuguese sidewalk.
After all, it’s something very typical of our country, in the same vein as the nostalgic Fado. Just to give you an idea, the first paved floors in Portugal and in the world appeared in the 15th century. But now it’s time to learn more about this subject.
The beginnings of Portuguese sidewalk
As ships always left for their destinations empty, in order to return home laden with goods and merchandise, they needed to increase their load to ensure their stability when sailing, what in maritime jargon is called ballast. The solution was to load these vessels with Portuguese stone.
Once in their destination countries, it was the Jesuits and the military who came up with the idea of applying them to the roads they passed through. This was the first step in what would only be called Portuguese sidewalk in the 19th century, this time on Portuguese soil.
The covering of sidewalks, squares, pracetas and even the use of these limestones, light and dark, in works of art, laid in such a way as to create designs, patterns, and often in a disorderly manner, are today one of our country’s trademark images.
Porto, 16th century
Porto was paved in the 16th century, during the reign of Henry the Navigator, thus bringing these true works of open-air art to the city.
Over the centuries, some streets and squares were decorated with illustrations of everyday life at the time, or with graphic elements common to this type of sidewalk. An example of this was the current Praça da Liberdade, next to the statue of D Pedro IV. Here you could see the ‘traditional’ undulations in Portuguese cobblestones, reminiscent of the movement of a river or the sea. However, today this sidewalk no longer exists.
During the (debated) refurbishment of Avenida dos Aliados in 2006, the sidewalk that decorated the sidewalks with its magnificent designs was replaced in Rua Sampaio Bruno. Today, this sidewalk, which tells the story of Port wine and agricultural activities of yesteryear, delights passers-by, as motifs such as ox carts and rabelo boats are clearly visible:
There are still many emblematic streets in Porto that have this cobblestone that is so much our own. Rua de Santa Catarina, Rua de Cedofeita, around the Church of Carmo and Trindade, among many other places.
In recent years, Porto City Council has been renovating some streets and lanes with this type of sidewalk. These upgrades have greatly pleased traders and residents. One of the main reasons is that the sidewalk reflects the sunlight, bringing more natural light into the streets and making them more pleasant to walk along. Recent examples of this are Travessa de Cedofeita, which was deservedly upgraded in 2018, Rua Fernandes Tomás, which is looking brighter, and more recently, the exterior of the Palácio de Cristal, in 2019.
Did you know that ‘socos’ or ‘clogs’ were very typical footwear adapted for walking on this sidewalk in Porto? Journalist Germano Silva recalls that in the 1930s and 1940s it was still common to hear workers walking to their jobs at dawn and making the distinctive sound of wood scraping on the Portuguese sidewalk. Today these clogs can be found in traditional shoe stores in the city center, or in more tourist-oriented stores.
You can find out more about the history of this sidewalk at the Porto Municipal Archives, once they reopen.
Pavers, a profession at risk of disappearing
The pavers, who with pickaxe in hand lay stone upon stone until they form the designs we admire today, are the true masters of an art that is one of the references of our Portuguese culture.
And this is a profession at risk of disappearing. There are very few who still dedicate themselves exclusively to this type of work, making each of the stones that will eventually give way to something almost always majestic.
It was once a very reputable profession, employing more than 400 pavers. A school was even set up in Lisbon to provide training in this area.
Today, the greatest tribute to this “kind of handicraft” can be seen in Lisbon’s Praça dos Restauradores since 2017.