Faro, Portugal
Faro, officially the City of Faro, is a city and a municipality in southern Portugal. It is the capital of both the Algarve region and the Faro District, as well as the southernmost city on the Portuguese mainland. Faro municipality covers an area of and, as of 2024, had 70,347 inhabitants, making it the second most populous municipality in the Algarve after Loulé. The city proper had 46,299 inhabitants in 2021, the largest urban population in the region. Faro lies on the shore of the Ria Formosa lagoon, a protected nature reserve and hosts the region’s international airport and university.
Founded as Ossonoba in antiquity, Faro was a settlement during the Phoenician and Roman periods and later served as a Moorish port known as Santa Maria Ibn Harun. It became part of the Kingdom of Portugal in 1249 and was elevated to city status in 1540. Since 1756, following the devastation of the Lisbon earthquake, Faro has been the administrative capital of the Algarve.
The municipalities of Faro, Olhão and Loulé, due to their proximity, shared infrastructure and commuter links can be considered an intermunicipal community with a population of 191,563 inhabitants as of 2024. A bus rapid transit system connecting this community is under development to connect these municipalities.
History
The Ria Formosa lagoon attracted humans from the Palaeolithic age until the end of prehistory. The first settlements date from the fourth century BC, during the period of Phoenician colonization of the western Mediterranean. At the time, the area was known as Ossonoba, and was the most important urban centre of southern Portugal and commercial port for agricultural products, fish, and minerals.Between the second and eighth centuries, the city was under the domain of the Romans, then the Byzantines, and later Visigoths, before being conquered by the Arabic-speaking Muslims known as Moors in 713. From the third century onwards and during the Visigothic period, it was the site of an Episcopal see, the Ancient Diocese of Ossonoba. The Byzantine presence has endured in the that were built during the Byzantine period.
With the advent of Moorish rule in the eighth century, Ossonoba retained its status as the most important town in the southwest corner of the Iberian Peninsula. In the 9th century, after a revolt led by Yahia Ben Bakr who was succeeded in office by his son, Bakr Ben Yahia, it became the capital of a short-lived princedom and was fortified with a ring of defensive walls. At this time, in the 10th century, the name Santa Maria began to be used instead of Ossonoba. By the 11th century, the town was known as Santa Maria Ibn Harun.
During the Second Crusade soon after the Anglo-Norman forces took Lisbon in 1147 a detachment of this group sacked Faro, which was still by then under Muslim rule, on their way to the Holy Land.
Again in 1217, during the Fifth Crusade, a Frisian fleet of crusaders on their way to Acre, sacked and burned the city.
During the 500 years of Moorish rule, some Jewish residents of Faro made written copies of the Old Testament. The Moors were defeated and expelled in 1249 by the forces of the Portuguese King Afonso III. With the decline of the importance of the city of Silves, Faro took over the role of administration of the Algarve area.
Portuguese Kingdom
After Portuguese independence in 1143, Afonso Henriques and his successors began an expansion and Christian repopulation into the southern Iberian territory which had previously been occupied by the Moors. Following the conquest by D. Afonso III, in 1249, the Portuguese referred to the town as Santa Maria de Faaron or Santa Maria de Faaram. In the following years, the town became prosperous, due to its secure port and exploitation of salt. Consequently, by the beginning of the Portuguese Age of Discovery, the town was well positioned to become a leading commercial centre.In the 14th century, the Jewish community began to grow in importance. In 1487, Samuel Gacon began printing the Pentateuco in Hebrew, the first book printed in Portugal. The Jewish community of Faro had long been a dominant force in the region, with many artisans and merchants contributing heavily to the economy and city development, but this level of prosperity was interrupted in December 1496 by an edict of Manuel I of Portugal, expelling those who did not convert to Christianity. As a result, officially, Jews no longer remained in Portugal. In the place of the Jewish village of Vila Adentro, the convent of Nossa Senhora da Assunção was founded and patronised by Queen Leonor, wife of the king.
Manuel I promoted the development and expansion of the city; 1499 had the construction of a hospital, the Church of Espírito Santo, a customshouse, and a slaughterhouse, all near the shoreline.
By 1540, John III of Portugal had elevated Faro to the status of city, then in 1577, the bishopric of the Algarve was transferred from Silves, which retains a co-cathedral, to the present Diocese of Faro.
In 1597, the city was sacked by English privateers led by Robert Devereux, 2nd Earl of Essex. The resultant fires damaged the walls, churches, and other buildings. At the same time, English troops seized the library of the Bishop of Faro, then Fernando Martins de Mascarenhas, which eventually became part of the collection of the University of Oxford's Bodleian Library. Among the looted books was the first printed book in Portugal: a Torah in local Hebrew, printed by Samuel Gacon at his workshop in Faro.
Throughout the 17th and 18th centuries, the city was expanded, with a series of walls during the period of the Restoration Wars, encompassing the semicircular front to the Ria Formosa.
The western city of Lagos had become the capital of the historical province of Algarve in 1577, but this all changed with the 1755 Lisbon earthquake. It affected many settlements across the Algarve, including Faro, which suffered damage to churches, convents, and the episcopal palace, in addition to the walls, castle towers and bulwarks, barracks, guardhouses, warehouses, customshouses, and prison.
Much of the greater devastation across the coastal and lowland regions was caused by a tsunami, which dismantled fortresses and razed homes. Almost all the coastal towns and villages of the Algarve were heavily damaged by the tsunami, except Faro, protected by the sandy banks of the Ria Formosa lagoon. With the capital Lagos devastated, Faro became the administrative seat of the region the following year, 1756.
Geography
The municipality of Faro is divided into two distinct areas, the coastline, part of the Nature Park of Ria Formosa and the barrocal, characterized by hills and valleys, populated with typical Algarvian vegetation. The coastal area includes the Praia de Faro community on the Ancão Peninsula and the Barreta and Culatra islands.The nature park was created by Decree-Law 373/87, on 8 December 1987, and is considered one of the seven natural wonders of Portugal, with a beach that is around from the downtown. It includes the river and a lagoon system, interspersed with dunes, forming a small islands and peninsulas, that protect a large area of marshes, channels, and islets. The beaches in Faro are situated on the peninsula of Ancão and island of Culatra, along the corridor of the nature park. The park is a rich and complex aquatic ecosystem, consisting of barrier islands, marshes, and channels, comprising sandy shorelines that separate the waters of the Ria Formosa and Atlantic Ocean. The beaches of Faro and Barrinha/Barra de São Luís, are located on the Ancão peninsula, the beach of Barreta on the Ilha Deserta, and the beaches of Farol and Culatra are located on the Ilha Culatra. The barrier islands are separated by tidal flats and shallows, including the Barra do Ancão/Barra de São Luís, the Barra de Santa Maria/Barra do Farol, and the Barra da Culatra/Barra da Armona.
Annually, many species of aquatic migratory birds transient northern Europe and nest there during the winter. These include flamingos, terns, pied avocets, Eurasian wigeons, and common chaffinches.
Within the town are gardens and open spaces, among which are the Manuel Bivar Garden, Alameda João de Deus Garden, and the Mata do Liceu.
The variety of species and natural conditions result in the region being a popular ecotourism zone, promoting birdwatching, boating trips into the delta, kayaking along the Ria Formosa, pedestrian trails, and biking tours, accompanied by nature guides. The municipality is crossed by the southern Ecovia do Algarve, a bicycling circuit that connects the Algarve to the rest of Europe.
Climate
Faro has a Mediterranean climate, moderated by a transitioning Portugal-Canary current giving a certain resemblance to Southern California that is not heated in the summer by the Mediterranean Sea like Algarve. Given this region is highly susceptible to the difference of precipitation throughout the seasons of the year, in the future scarcity of water could appear in conjunction with the increase of temperature and less incidence of rains.Summers are warm to hot and sunny with average daytime maximum temperatures of. Summer warmth can linger well into October. The weather in the winter is generally mild by European standards, managing around 6 hours of sunshine each day, with temperatures averaging around in the coldest month. The city receives most of its rainfall over the winter; rain is scarce between June and September. The annual average temperature is around, however it is becoming hotter and hotter, reaching as high as in 2023, with average temperatures since 2010 or even since 1994 being around, and the annual rainfall is around, however in recent years, rainfall has diminished, even reaching as low as in 2019, with the average yearly rainfall from 2017 to 2021 being closer to. The average sea temperature is in January rising to in August and September. Higher sea water temperatures are reached if the weather patterns produce a significant outflow of warmer surface water out of the Mediterranean which bathe the coastal Algarve with much warmer water. During the summer months, tropical nights are common and, on average, Faro has 45 tropical nights per year, which is the highest in Portugal. Faro has the highest minimum temperature ever recorded in Portugal, which was on 26 July 2004.
With over 3000 hours of sunshine a year, Faro is often regarded as one of the sunniest cities in Europe, alongside nearby Tavira. July and August have the most sunshine, while December has the least.