The history of Nazare

A charitable brotherhood built a church on the hill

On the slope above Nazaré's beach sits the old quarter of Pederneira, and about half a mile from this point stands the Igreja da Misericórdia da Pederneira, a church built for one of Portugal's old charitable brotherhoods, the Misericórdias. These confraternities ran hospitals, buried the poor and cared for orphans across the country for centuries, and Pederneira's own chapter built this church to hold its work.

Inside, the walls carry azulejos, the blue-and-white tiles Portugal is known for, painted in the 1600s. The church also holds paintings from the same period. In 1978, the Portuguese state placed both the tiles and the paintings under formal protection, listing them by decree alongside the building itself.

Just beside the church stands the Pelourinho da Pederneira, a stone pillory, also about half a mile off. Towns across Portugal once raised these pillars in their main squares, as a mark of local justice and civic standing, and Pederneira's has stood here since the town was a separate settlement in its own right, before it was folded into Nazaré.

Close by, too, sits the Antiga Casa da Câmara, Pederneira's old town hall, protected under the same 1978 decree.

A knight's vision gave Nazaré its chapel

Local tradition ties this hillside to one of Portugal's best-known legends. The story goes that in 1182, a knight named Dom Fuas Roupinho was hunting deer in thick fog on the cliffs below. Dom Fuas Roupinho rode toward the edge, chasing his prey, and the story says the Virgin Mary appeared and stopped his horse just short of the drop. In gratitude, he built a chapel over a grotto where a statue of a Black Madonna was said to have been hidden centuries earlier. That chapel became the seed of Nazaré's religious identity, and the grotto still draws pilgrims today, about half a mile from this point.

Pederneira stayed the older settlement above the beach

As Nazaré grew below it, Pederneira stayed the older settlement on the hill, with its own church, pillory and town hall marking it out as a place that had once governed itself. Fishing and, later, tourism built up the beach town beneath it, while Pederneira kept its quieter, older streets. The Misericórdia brotherhood's hospital work and burials continued here long after the chapel on the cliffs had become the town's main draw.

A big wave surfer died at Praia do Norte

On January 5, 2023, the Brazilian big wave surfer Márcio Freire died at Praia do Norte, Nazaré's famous surf beach. Freire was 47. Freire wiped out on a wave and was towed to shore unconscious. Lifeguards tried CPR but could not revive him. It was the first surfing death recorded at the break that had made Nazaré world-famous for giant waves.

A storm caused million-euro damage across the county

On January 28, 2026, Storm Kristin tore through the Leiria district, Nazaré's own county, and caused about €15 million in damage to municipal infrastructure and property across the municipality.

Pederneira's monuments watch over a surfers' town

Pederneira today is a quiet upper neighborhood above the beach resort, its church, pillory and old town hall preserved as listed monuments while the town below fills with surfers chasing the same swells that killed Freire. Sítio, the clifftop sanctuary site tied to the Roupinho legend, lies about half a mile from this point and remains Nazaré's most visited religious landmark.