Rural architecture and tower keeps

There are fine examples of Basque farmhouse architecture in many of the hamlets that make up the municipality of Zuia, with all the typical features that mark them as self-contained family production units. Nowadays many of them, such as the bread oven, outhouses and silos, etc. are no longer used.

Some of these farmhouses were the ancestral homes of leading families of the area, such as the Zarates and the Agirres. In the late Middle Ages feuds between rival families resulted in the building of defensive keeps, a few of which still survive, notably La Encontrada in Lukiano, the Sagasti farmhouse in Markina and the tower keep of the Agirre family in Bitoriano