Cova da Beira is a NUTS3 subregion of Portugal

Portugal

Portugal , officially the Portuguese Republic is a country situated in southwestern Europe on the Iberian Peninsula. Portugal is the westernmost country of Europe, and is bordered by the Atlantic Ocean to the West and South and by Spain to the North and East. The Atlantic archipelagos of the...

 integrated in the NUTS2 Centro region. It lies in the fertile valley between the Serra da Estrela and Gardunha

Gardunha

The Gardunha mountain range , so called by the Moors , is located in central Portugal, in Centro Region, beyond the Serra da Estrela range, giving way to an extensive plain called Cova da Beira. It was covered with vineyards in the time of King Dinis, who reigned in the 13th and 14th centuries...

 mountains. It covers an area of 1,373 km², with a population of 92,460 inhabitants for a density of 67 hab/km². The major cities are Covilhã

Covilhã

Covilhã is a city in Covilha Municipality in Centro region, Portugal. The city proper has 36,723 inhabitants, and the municipality has an area of 555.6 km² with a total population of 53,501, being composed of 31 parishes. It is located in the Cova da Beira subregion, in the district of...

 (pop. 31,500 - city proper) and Fundão

Fundão

Fundão is a city in Fundao Municipality in Portugal, located in the Castelo Branco District. Fundão is an old city with 8,369 inhabitants, situated at the point where the slope of the Gardunha range meets the Cova da Beira plains, 500 metres above sea level. The municipality has a total area of...

 (pop. 9,000 - city proper). The subregion has a significant economic output related mainly with textiles, food industry

Food industry

The food production is a complex, global collective of diverse businesses that together supply much of the food energy consumed by the world population...

, agriculture

Agriculture

Agriculture is the cultivation of animals, plants, fungi and other life forms for food, fiber, and other products used to sustain life. Agriculture was the key implement in the rise of sedentary human civilization, whereby farming of domesticated species created food surpluses that nurtured the...

 and mining

Mining

Mining is the extraction of valuable minerals or other geological materials from the earth, from an ore body, vein or seam. The term also includes the removal of soil. Materials recovered by mining include base metals, precious metals, iron, uranium, coal, diamonds, limestone, oil shale, rock...

. The most significant productions include woollen, fabrics, olive oil

Olive oil

Olive oil is an oil obtained from the olive , a traditional tree crop of the Mediterranean Basin. It is commonly used in cooking, cosmetics, pharmaceuticals, and soaps and as a fuel for traditional oil lamps...

, wine

Wine

Wine is an alcoholic beverage, made of fermented fruit juice, usually from grapes. The natural chemical balance of grapes lets them ferment without the addition of sugars, acids, enzymes, or other nutrients. Grape wine is produced by fermenting crushed grapes using various types of yeast. Yeast...

, wood

Wood

Wood is a hard, fibrous tissue found in many trees. It has been used for hundreds of thousands of years for both fuel and as a construction material. It is an organic material, a natural composite of cellulose fibers embedded in a matrix of lignin which resists compression...

, cherries

Cherry

The cherry is the fruit of many plants of the genus Prunus, and is a fleshy stone fruit. The cherry fruits of commerce are usually obtained from a limited number of species, including especially cultivars of the wild cherry, Prunus avium....

, peach

Peach

The peach tree is a deciduous tree growing to tall and 6 in. in diameter, belonging to the subfamily Prunoideae of the family Rosaceae. It bears an edible juicy fruit called a peach...

es and other vegetable

Vegetable

The noun vegetable usually means an edible plant or part of a plant other than a sweet fruit or seed. This typically means the leaf, stem, or root of a plant....

s. Some of the most important wolframite

Wolframite

Wolframite WO4, is an iron manganese tungstate mineral that is the intermediate between ferberite and huebernite . Along with scheelite, the wolframite series are the most important tungsten ore minerals. Wolframite is found in quartz veins and pegmatites associated with granitic intrusives...

 (most important mineral source of the metal tungsten

Tungsten

Tungsten , also known as wolfram , is a chemical element with the chemical symbol W and atomic number 74.A hard, rare metal under standard conditions when uncombined, tungsten is found naturally on Earth only in chemical compounds. It was identified as a new element in 1781, and first isolated as...

) mines in the world are explored within its limits. Other important mines extract lead

Lead

Lead is a main-group element in the carbon group with the symbol Pb and atomic number 82. Lead is a soft, malleable poor metal. It is also counted as one of the heavy metals. Metallic lead has a bluish-white color after being freshly cut, but it soon tarnishes to a dull grayish color when exposed...

 and tin

Tin

Tin is a chemical element with the symbol Sn and atomic number 50. It is a main group metal in group 14 of the periodic table. Tin shows chemical similarity to both neighboring group 14 elements, germanium and lead and has two possible oxidation states, +2 and the slightly more stable +4...

. Mineral water is bottled from several sources. There is a state-run university

University

A university is an institution of higher education and research, which grants academic degrees in a variety of subjects. A university is an organisation that provides both undergraduate education and postgraduate education...

 in the city of Covilhã (University of Beira Interior

University of Beira Interior

The University of Beira Interior is a public university located in the city of Covilhã, Portugal...

 http://www.ubi.pt) and a major state-run Hospital Center with buildings in Covilhã and Fundão (Centro Hospitalar Cova da Beira

Centro Hospitalar Cova da Beira

The Centro Hospitalar Cova da Beira is a Portuguese state-run hospital center in the Cova da Beira subregion. It has the role of teaching hospital of the University of Beira Interior, and is composed by two autonomous hospitals located in the neighbouring cities of Covilhã and Fundão ....

 http://www.chcbeira.min-saude.pt/).

Municipalities

Cova da Beira subregion has 3 municipalities

Municipalities of Portugal

In Portugal, municipality or concelho is the most stable subdivision of Portugal since the foundation of the country.Portugal has an entirely separate system of cities and towns. Cities and towns are located in municipalities, but often do not have the same boundaries, even if built-up is continuous...

 (concelho

Concelho

Concelho , in the Portuguese language, is the word municipality, when referring to the territory. The word município is used when municipality means the organ of State...

s in Portuguese)

• Belmonte
• Covilhã
  Covilhã Municipality
  -Parishes:* Aldeia de São Francisco de Assis* Aldeia do Souto* Barco* Boidobra* Canhoso* Cantar-Galo* Casegas* Conceição* Cortes do Meio* Coutada* Dominguizo* Erada* Ferro* Orjais* Ourondo* Paul* Peraboa* Peso* Santa Maria* São Jorge da Beira...
  
  
• Fundão