Why go
This chapter helps explain why Sintra developed as more than an isolated mountain refuge. Its settlement belonged to the territory of Olisipo, Roman Lisbon, and finds beneath the old town suggest occupation over several centuries. The route and roadside tomb evidence offer a way to read today's streets as part of an older network.
The full story
Under Roman rule, the Sintra area formed part of the territory administered from Olisipo. Inscriptions and names from the region show inhabitants adopting Roman civic and cultural forms. Scattered finds beneath the present town suggest a settlement occupied from roughly the late pre-Roman centuries into late antiquity. A route probably linked it with the countryside southeast of the mountains and onward toward Lisbon. The proposed line follows approximately Rua da Ferraria, Calçada dos Clérigos and Calçada da Trindade. Second-century funerary stones found in the area fit the Roman custom of placing tombs beside roads outside settlements. Little of this history stands visibly above ground, so the useful comparison is between the street plan experienced today and the archaeological evidence below it. The Roman material gives the old town another layer, while the palaces and castle tell much later stories.