Porto City Hall/ Câmara Municipal do Porto

The municipality of Porto, with the current geographical boundaries, is a diverse territory that presents traces of human occupation from Prehistory - Mesolithic and Chalcolithic - to the Bronze Age and Iron Age, in areas far from the city center, such as Campanhã, Aldoar and Nevogilde. The first traces of the protohistoric castro, which gave rise to the city of Porto, appear on the hills of Sé or Penaventosa, with characteristics similar to other castros in the northwest of the peninsula. In the Archaeosítio (Rua de D. Hugo n.º 5) objects of daily use and constructions dating back to the 4th-3rd centuries BC were found. From Penaventosa, traces of the wall that surrounded this primitive nucleus emerged.

Cale's castro has commercial connections with the Roman world, showing a significant level of Romanization in the 1st century AD, probably related to the reorganization implemented by Augustus. In the late Roman period, the “civitas” expanded to the Cividade hill and along the Penaventosa slope and reached the Ribeira area, as proved by the archaeological excavations of Casa do Infante and the surrounding area, where traces of important buildings were found. inserted in a regular urban fabric. The growing port dynamics will have reinforced Cale's role as a catalyst for the regional economy, with the first references to Portucale appearing. Data taken from interventions carried out around the entire perimeter of the municipality, mainly along the Douro riverside, have shown that the Roman occupation extended practically to the entire territory, reorganized around a new road network structured from two large roads that crossed the Douro towards the North. Evidence has appeared in places like Miragaia, Massarelos, Cedofeita, Lordelo do Ouro and Foz do Douro.

The crisis of 1383-1385 put the city in evidence once again. The king of the “Good Memory” showed special appreciation for his collaboration in the victory of the war against Castile. Among the most relevant works is the first structured street, Rua Nova or Formosa (currently Rua do Infante D. Henrique); the city and its couto become real; more territories are added to the term of Porto. In this city he celebrated his marriage to D. Filipa de Lencastre and there his fifth son, Infante D. Henrique, was born and baptized.