Maia, Porto

Shop or office in Nogueira da Maia, near the Church With WC Two entrance doors, With two or three divisions MAYA The municipality of Maia received a charter in 1519, although there are prehistoric traces of human presence and references to this gathering that date back to Roman rule. The history of this city has often been confused with the fate of Portugal, particularly during the independence process, with special emphasis on Gonçalo Mendes da Maia, "The Lidador". Maia contains a duality resulting from the intersection of a historical past with a new era of development. On the one hand, there are strong individual identities of each part of the municipality, derived from millennial cultural, historical and religious roots, especially in rural areas, where agriculture predominates; On the other hand, Maia is currently one of the most advanced municipalities in the country, with an important role in industry, innovation and new technologies, constituting an example of economic and environmental development. There is an original phonetic phenomenon in the municipality of Maia, the toponym of the village of Castêlo da Maia. Currently the spelling "Castelo da Maia" is also accepted, but the "e" remains as a semi-closed unrounded anterior vowel, as it is read in "mesa". No maiato, not even part of the inhabitants of neighboring municipalities, would be able to make a mistake about its phonetics, but the error is evidently recurrent for those who are not familiar, particularly since the alternative spelling is more in vogue.