about the place
Trofa lies between Porto and Braga, in the Porto Metropolitan Area, at a road junction leading to Porto, Braga, Santo Tirso and Vila do Conde. The municipality covers 72.02 km², has 38,612 inhabitants (2021) and six parishes. It is a recent municipality: it was created on 19 November 1998, by detachment from Santo Tirso, after Trofa had been raised to the status of town in 1984 and city in 1993. The history of the territory is far older: there are prehistoric axes, rock carvings on Monte de São Gens and burial mounds in São Pantaleão and Alvarelhos. In Roman times, the road from Braga to Porto passed through here, leaving behind the Castro de Alvarelhos and the milestone markers, both National Monuments. In March 1809, the people of Trofa, together with a company of soldiers and just two cannons, prevented the troops of Marshal Soult from crossing the river Ave at the Barca da Trofa. The arrival of the railway at the beginning of the 20th century helped the city to grow.
