Vila Franca das Naves e Feital United Commune (Portugal)

Last modified: 2025-10-18 by klaus-michael schneider
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União das Freguesias de Vila Franca das Naves e Feital, Concelho de Trancoso, Distrito da Guarda

2:3, image by António Martins-Tuválkin and Sérgio Horta, 27 June 2025

2:3, image by António Martins-Tuválkin and Sérgio Horta, 27 June 2025

• Vila Franca das Naves e Feital United Commune
• Flag
• Coat of Arms
• Presentation of Vila Franca das Naves e Feital
• Former Vila Franca das Naves Commune (until 2013)
• Flag
• Coat of Arms
• Presentation of Vila Franca das Naves
• Former Feital Commune (until 2013)
• Flag
• Coat of Arms
• Presentation of Feital

• Trancoso Municipality
• Portugal
• Portuguese WIKIPEDIA

Vila Franca das Naves e Feital United Commune

Flag

It is a typical Portuguese communal flag with the coat of arms centred on a field quartered of white and green.
Source: Sérgio Horta´s webpage
António Martins-Tuválkin, 27 June 2025

Coat of Arms

Mural crown Argent with four visible towers (town rank) and white scroll reading in black upper case serifed letters either "UNIÃO DAS FREGUESIAS DE VILA FRANCA DAS NAVES E FEITAL" (see left image above) or "VILA FRANCA DAS NAVES E FEITAL" (see right image above).
Meaning:
As usual for these communes with hybrid toponyms created in 2012 by joining two or more pre-existing communes, in a time when most of them had already established flags and coats of arms, the newly created arms are also themselves a hybrid of those previous ones — such as in this case cogwheel and rail profiles from Vila Franca das Naves and the ferns from Feital.
Sources: official municipal webpage
António Martins-Tuválkin, 27 June 2025

Published in Diário da República: II Série on 10 March 2015, see here
António Martins-Tuválkin, 27 June 2025

Presentation of Vila Franca das Naves e Feital

Vila Franca das Naves e Feital is one of the six communes of Trancoso Municipality created by the merger during the 2013 changes. It had 876 inhabitants in 2021 and covers 16,04 km².
António Martins-Tuválkin, 27 June 2025

Former Vila Franca das Naves Commune (until 2013)

Flag

It is a typical Portuguese communal flag, with the coat of arms centred on a plain white field .
Source: Sérgio Horta´s webpage
António Martins-Tuválkin, 8 July 2009

Coat of Arms

Shield Vert a cogwheel Or between two bunches of grapes Or leafed Argent in chief and two rail profiles Argent in base. Mural crown Argent with three visible towers (village rank) and white scroll reading in black upper case serifed letters "VILA FRANCA DAS NAVES".
Meaning:
Although the toponym includes the word "vila" ("town"), the commune seat was upgraded to this status only in 2004, hence the three-tower crown, adopted in 2003. A revised version, once approved by CHAAP, will dully replace it with a four-tower and change the flag to white-green quartered. (editorial note: there is not yet evidence for a quartered flag, but for arms with four visible towers in the mural crown; kms) The toponym is however ancient - once known as Vila Franca ("fair town", one of many so called) or Vila Franca do Conde ("of the count"), implying an importance that was meanwhile lost untill 2004. The cogwheel in the arms may refer to a less modern kind of industry ("nave" means in Portuguese both "ship" and "nave" - neither shown in the arms). While the grapes mark the local importance of viticulture, the rail profiles stand for the local railway, where the Lisbon-Paris line takes a sharp U-bend.
Source: Ralf Hartemink´s webpage
António Martins-Tuválkin, 8 July 2009

Published in Diário da República: III Série on 3 April 2003
António Martins-Tuválkin, 8 July 2009

Presentation of Vila Franca das Naves

Vila Franca das Naves was one of the 14 communes of Trancoso Municipality affected by the 2013 changes. It had 1400 inhabitants in 2001 and covered 10,75 km².
António Martins-Tuválkin, 8 July 2009

Former Feital Commune (until 2013)

Flag

It is a typical Portuguese communal flag, with the coat of arms centred on a plain red field.
Source: Sérgio Horta´s webpage
António Martins-Tuválkin, 25 June 2025

Coat of Arms

Shield Or a shepherd´s hut Sable masoned and open Argent, two chestnut twigs Vert with burrs cracked Gules on either corner, in base two fern fronds Vert with their proximal stems in saltire. Mural crown Argent with three visible towers (village rank) and white scroll reading in black upper case serifed letters "FEITAL".
Meaning:
The word "feital" is an archaism/regionalism for "fern field", more commonly called "fetal" (Plural: "fetais") - both common toponyms, either as standalone or as part of compounds. Even so, in this case, the name of the encompassing municipality was not added hyphenated to the scroll text for disambiguation. The ferns in the arms are canting.
Source: Ralf Hartemink´s webpage
António Martins-Tuválkin, 25 June 2025

Presentation of Feital

Feital was one of the 14 communes of Trancoso Municipality affected by the 2013 changes. It had 65 inhabitants in 2011 and covered 5,23 km².
António Martins-Tuválkin, 25 June 2025

back to Trancoso Communes click here