All towns have a story behind them, but that of Riaño, northeast of León, where Imanol Arias was born on April 26, 1956, is especially curious. It presents a mountain landscape and a most characteristic reservoir, but it turns out that beneath those waters remains the memory of a town that ceased to exist almost four decades ago.
When the famous actor saw Riaño for the first time, his image was quite different from his current one. This is because the valley was inhabited and the municipality was located in its original location, surrounded by the mountains of the area. What happened is that years later, a reservoir project completely changed that space and forced the town to be moved.
A spectacular landscape with a curious story behind it
The big change took place in 1987. After years of work, the dam gates were closed on December 31 and the land where the old Riaño was located was flooded. The water ended up covering the valley and the new town settled in Valcayo, at a considerable height to be able to stay outside the level of the reservoir.
For that reason, the Riaño where Imanol was born has nothing to do with the current one. Of course, we tried to move as much as possible; from the neighbors, the services and even various architectural and heritage elements. Of course, a place different from the original, but inevitably linked to its past.
Today, the reservoir is precisely one of the main attractions of Riaño, since it exposes a most striking landscape where we see the water make its way between the mountains and the peaks of the Cantabrian mountain range. And in this town you can even take a cruise through the reservoir on a summer afternoon or rent a jet ski to explore those waters.
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