Açôr
Ádela
Aldeia Velha
Carrimá
Carvalhal
Coiços
Foz da Cova
Loural
Malhada
Quinta das Águias
Quinta de Belide
Ribeira de Ádela
Ribeiro de Além
Roçaio
Saião
Salgado
Sobral
Soito
Vale de Asna

The village of Saião (meaning ‘houseleek’ or ‘sempervivum’) is situated towards the top of the valley of the Ribeira do Saião, the stream in the valley bottom joining the river Ceira at Candosa. The first part of the village is below the narrow road – a collection of painted houses.  Below these the valley drops steeply, terraced on either side. There are still many old olive trees growing on the terraces. A little way further up the valley is Saião de Cima, once a quinta with a collection of small xisto buildings used to house sheep and goats. Today there are three houses. At the bottom of the valley below the village sound carries in such a way that the villagers of Saião, Salgado and Vale de Asna could speak together without having to walk up and down the hillsides – they could exchange information just by calling out to each other. As with many of the villages in this region, in the past their isolation sustained a bartering system: goods and work were exchanged. Money only started to be used frequently with the beginning of forestry, and the subsequent building of roads, that improved communication.

Nearby there is one mill still standing but no longer working: the private mill ‘o moinho do Zé Rosa’. Two more mills, now ruined, used to stand below on the Ribeira do Saião in the ‘Vale de Asna’ valley.
The road between the villages of Sobral and Saião is called “caminho da missa” (“way of the mass”). In the past, villagers of the Pampilhosa da Serra region used to carry their dead on their shoulders to the chapel of Sobral where they would rest for a night before walking on to the cemetery of Celavisa  the next day.
It appears that wolves were to be found in this part of the region into the 20th century, and there are many stories told about close escapes and fatalities, within living memory. There is a story that once a villager went to another village to a ‘festa’, to play his guitar. It was dark and late at night when he started to make his way back, and after a time he found himself  surrounded by a pack of wolves. Fearful and apprehensive, he started to play his guitar and did not stop until he reached his home. He was still accompanied by the wolves, but they did not attack him.
Another story tells that about 50 years ago, a 3 year old boy from the village broke his leg, and since the nearest doctor was in Arganil, the villagers carried the boy in a basket on their heads to the barber in Celavisa. This barber was famous for his medical knowledge, and he put the leg back into the right position, fixed it with some splints and bandaged it. The boy was brought back to the village and the leg healed.