Near the road that divides the town into two halves and two different heights, a plain hermitage tells stories, traditions, worship and neighbourhoods. It has a square-floor plan, a hip roof and a wide porch at the entrance which, supported by wooden beams, gives shade and shelter to three slopes.

The Ermita de la Soledad (Hermitage of the Solitude) was the temple of the humble, a simple sanctuary where cattle farmers, usually transhumants, and other workers of related trades came to hear mass in this neighbourhood of more modest families. Because if the Church of the Virgen del Pino (Our Lady of the Pines), in the Plaza Mayor, was built thanks to the prosperity of the village, the great temple soon became a place of worship for the wealthiest classes, while other poorer constructions would become a haven for the least affluent congregations. La Soledad, which became the main church of the village during the construction works of the Church of the Virgen del Pino and had a cemetery attached until the beginning of the 20th century, is the clearest example of that social division, as a sanctuary for the people in the neighbourhood which bears the same name. Gothic in style and built in ashlar stone with ashlar promenades in 1560 or 1570, the hermitage opens onto a single nave thanks to two twin arched doors, with fine moulding on boxed pilasters.

Inside it, there are two popular statues of Jesus Christ tied to the column and a Crucified Christ, both from the 19th century, as well as a Pietà with the possibility of changing clothes and a Lying Christ. The altarpiece, made of polychrome wood, is in the Baroque style, and among the Solomonic columns in its attic we can see a Crucified Christ from the same period. In a glazed urn there is another Lying Christ, this one dating from the 18th century.

Inside it, there are two popular statues of Jesus Christ tied to the column and a Crucified Christ, both from the 19th century, as well as a Pietà with the possibility of changing clothes and a Lying Christ. The altarpiece, made of polychrome wood, is in the Baroque style, and among the Solomonic columns in its attic we can see a Crucified Christ from the same period. In a glazed urn there is another Lying Christ, this one dating from the 18th century.

Built in the lower part of the village, the hermitage stands in the centre of a small square. An humilladero (a calvary) with a cross dedicated to the Santo Cristo de la Vera Cruz (Holy Christ of the True Cross), acts as a prelude to the square in whose centre it stands. An imposing stork nest watches from its belfry, today devoid of bells. In front of it, the remains of an old elm tree survive as a memory of a time before the graphiosis disease ended these ancient trees.

Every year on 14 August, the small Plaza de la Soledad holds the hoisting of the “second maypole” (the first one will be hoisted in the Plaza Mayor), a smaller pine tree that, according to tradition, belongs to singles. Two days later, when the town is flooded with festivity and colour in the embroidered shawls of the piñorras (the local outfit for women), the Visontinas (the women of Vinuesa) will pick up their pinochos (pine branches) here to begin one of the most colourful and crowded parades in the entire province.

16 August is a big day in the village. Declared a Festival of Regional Tourist Interest, the origins of the Pinochada go back to an ancient time, packed with legends and popular voices. Because it is nothing but a magical story that records its birth: the Virgin was said to have appeared one day in the crown of a pine tree. Trees know little about village boundaries, so after hearing this story, the inhabitants of both villages entered into a dispute to decide to whom the holy statue should belong. They say that, had it not been for the Visontinas, who armed themselves with pine branches (the pinochos), the statue, which could not be called anything other than Virgen del Pino (Our Lady of the Pines), would have stayed in the neighbouring village.

Other versions suggest reminiscences of a time of matriarchy (given the temporal authority that women hold on this festive day), a tradition perhaps related to that of the Águedas (on Saint Agatha’s Day). On the other hand, there are people who see in the festival traces of a Celtic pine worship, while other hypotheses point to memories of the participation of the Visontinos in the Flanders War.

In any case, an ancestral memory underlies this celebration, a colour extravaganza on a day starring the piñorras, which also includes two brotherhoods: that of Nuestra Señora del Pino, formed only by married people and that of San Roque, exclusively made up by singles. Both are governed by statutes approved by Fernando VI, which established that all brotherhood members have an obligation to attend the procession, mass and other functions. Each brotherhood has its own captain, ensign, and sergeants.

And this is how on 16 August, the entire village heads to the Plaza de la Soledad, putting on their best clothes. The Visontinas will gather their pinochos in this square and go in procession towards the Plaza Mayor, where the church is. Everyone will be blessed here before the battle. Men will head towards “the fight”, standing in rows and clinging to each other with drawn sabres and bucklers (or shields) to protect themselves. The music will resound, and that’s the cue for the attack, where the combat will be emulated going around the square with the odd skirmishes and blade slashes. This ritual will be repeated three times. Singles will have to wait until they get married to be on the winning side.

Then, it will be the women’s turn, who will begin by following the same steps as the men. Adopting battle position, their captains will wave the flags. They all carry their pinochos, the same ones that, once the fight is over, will be used to greet (with more or less intensity) the men who will, in turn, thank them * at their interpellation. “In a year from today…”.

All this takes place in the Plaza Mayor, under the gaze of the maypole hoisted by the married men two days before. The one hoisted by the singles, of smaller size, has remained in La Soledad, witnessing a different type of gatherings. On good weather days, this place, that once saw large merino herds of the Cañada Galiana cattle track pass by, now extends into different rows: it is the market, which every summer Saturday dots the square and street with the canopies of the stalls. Down the street, the market passes in front of one of the most striking buildings in the village: the Casa del Indiano.

Its tower and sharp roofs point to the memory of those children of the land who crossed the Atlantic; migrants who, in some cases, would return with the money they made in the Americas. The less fortunate ones, using an expression of that time, “lost their suitcases in the sea”, but there were some who returned here, very well-off, and erected or rebuilt buildings: large houses that boast constructive features remarkably different from the typical pinariego architecture. The entire area is dotted with indiano (Spanish migrants returned from the Americas) displays, palaces with large gardens (some of them with rather unusual palm trees on Castilian soil) that tell stories of that time of migrants and Philanthropic Societies whose donations contributed to the creation of many services as well as the construction of public buildings in the region. The paving of the streets of the village, the building of the sidewalks, the pelota court, some bridge and the largest wash house, for example, were made possible thanks to one of these: La Visontina.

La Casa del Indiano raises its four storeys of stone and wood above the filigree of its forged iron fence. With its numerous windows, red shutters, gallery porch and large garden, it preserves, without a doubt, the unmistakable trace of those who, after crossing the pond and going to the Americas, returned to the land that once gave birth to them.