Água de Pena is a civil parish in the municipality of Machico on the south-east coast of the Portuguese island of Madeira. The population in 2011 was 2,434, in an area of 5.15 km².
History
The area of Água de Pena was first sighted by the crew and explorers with João Gonçalves Zarco after he disembarked along the coastal spillway of Machico, likely around July 1419; the escarpment of Penedo overlook the beach of Machico, and the crew encamped in the shadow of the promontory overnight, before exploring the island the next day. Father Gaspar Frutuoso later recounted:
:"And, the following day, running further ahead, always following the land, they found a fresh valley and warm pasture with a ravine of water, which fell to the sea with much freshness. There he made some men, who went to find another spring, that exited a large, old and smooth pebble, and was so precious and cold, that he ordered a flask filled in order to take to the Infante; and because of this port (wherein he found the same), the Port of the Pebble, which is today called, became the small port's lands that constituted the future parish of Água de Pena." The annual stipend for its clergy was a meager 9000 réis in 1572, and increased by 3000 réis ib 14 December 1588. By 5 February 1592, royal records indicated the annual salary was 19,000 réis, one moio (60 alqueires) and one pipa (500 kilograms) of wine. He returned to Funchal in 1916, where he taught theology at the seminary in Funchal from 1917, later becoming parish priest in Faial (1922) and São Jorge (1923), before returning to Funchal to continue his teaching career in the humanities and theology (a role he would occupy until the end of his life).