Puente de Domingo Flórez

The name tells how the town was born. In the first third of the 13th century a stone bridge was raised over the river Cabrera, near its mouth into the Sil, and a pontazgo —⁠a crossing toll⁠— was charged on it. The settlement grew beside the crossing and kept the name of the bridge and of whoever ruled: Domingo Flórez. The surname Flórez is a patronymic —⁠'son of Froila', an Asturian name of Germanic root⁠— and points to the lineage that governed this corner between El Bierzo and Valdeorras. It is debated whether there was a flesh-and-blood Domingo Flórez or whether the toponym fused a lord's name and his house's surname; the most detailed local source denies he existed as a single person. What is not debated is the bridge: without it, there would be neither town nor name.