Legazpi

Legazpi, with 8.700 inhabitants is the smallest town of OP-ACT project. It is a municipality located in the south-west of Gipuzkoa Province in the Basque Country (North of Spain). This little municipality is part of Urola Garaia County and it is located alongside the Urola River and the hillsides of Aizkorri Nature Reserve. This "miniature inland Gipuzkoa", resulting from the strength of its river and from the landscape of the summits, forests and fields that embrace it, is the reflection of co-existence between urban and rural landscapes. There is a co-existence which has left numerous testimonies of its history (ironworks, hermitages, tower houses, mansions, farmhouses, etc.) and a series of extremely valuable natural areas in which to enjoy nature.Legazpi reflects the general characteristics of Gipuzkoa’s industrialization era. It has sheltered along the 20th century, one of the largest, important and famous industrial groups against the prevalence of SMEs established in the rest of the province. “Patricio Echeverría S.A” group employed a large number of people in the area; so far it became the business card of Legazpi and surrounding areas. Both, the company and the village grew together. The economic activity of the municipality has been mainly rooted in a strong industrial activity based on the transformation of metal.