Jewish Heritage in Fundão: New Christian Merchants of the Cova da Beira

The documentation of the Coimbra Inquisition tribunal includes numerous cases involving Fundão's New Christian families — merchants and wool traders whose commercial networks ran through the Cova da Beira and down toward Castelo Branco and the Tagus. The records are precisely what makes the town significant to the heritage traveller: they demonstrate how deeply crypto-Jewish life was woven into an ordinary Portuguese market town.

Fundão's medieval community had its judiaria within the old town, and the historic centre — climbing toward the castle hill of Castelo Novo nearby — retains the fabric of a prosperous pre-modern trading place.

The Cova da Beira, the broad fertile basin between the Serra da Estrela and the Gardunha, has been orchard country for centuries — its cherries are among Portugal's most celebrated agricultural products. The same valleys sheltered villages like Alpedrinha and Castelo Novo, each with its own converso history.

For travellers, the region offers a gentler complement to the high Serra: orchards, wine estates and some of central Portugal's most appealing small towns.

Fundão works as a stop on the route between Belmonte and Castelo Branco, combined with Castelo Novo or Alpedrinha in a Cova da Beira day. In cherry season, the valley adds a gastronomic dimension that our clients consistently remember.