Although Asturias has always been considered a tourist attraction on account of our natural values, we must now face the fact that we can virtually no longer como across anywhere in the region where this description can be proven. Asturias has always been a region where our peoples have been dispersed predominantly in those areas most favourable for settling and, even though concentrated in the mountains, their economic activities have seen them spread around populated areas and even reaching the peaks when it comes to cattle-grazing. For that reason our natural environment has been the stage on which our forefathers´ lives have developed their physical but also economic sopport of the rural communities we are endeavouring to understand, in this way also helping us to get to know our roots.
Since Neolithic times man´s presence has shaped our rural environment, and nowadays we see a complex framework of shapes, social relationships, ambiguities and new realities which, demographically and economically linked to the urban centres, are being profoundly transformed. So we can see that there exists a very marked link between our natural and rural environments, just as at the same time there exists a link between the latter and urban areas, being related as well to our industrial areas. We could say that Asturias has been a rural and industrial region which tends to be an urban one. There is room for these three objectives which simply need a chronological fottnote and, those visitors who may wish to round off their stay with more dynamic activities will be able to choose between several complementary activities.