Stately Plaza de María Pita is rimmed with cafes and dominated by the early-20th-century Ayuntamiento and a monument to the heroine the square is named after – she's depicted here repelling the 1589 English invaders in a flowing dress.

　　The story goes that María Pita dispatched an English lieutenant who had scaled A Coruña's city walls, then, with a cry of 'Whoever has honour, follow me!', led the citizens to repel the rest of the attacking force, which had arrived in retaliation for the Spanish Armada of the previous year.