The town of Colunga arises in the times of King Alfonso X, who grants it a Puebla letter framed in the process of population settlement on the Cantabrian coastline. Part of its development in medieval and modern times is due to the passage through the town of the coastal Camino de Santiago, which promoted the creation of a pilgrim hospital in the seventeenth century (of which the Santa Ana chapel remains).

Colunga has a historic center developed around Calle Real, in which a good number of buildings of interest are preserved, from the Alonso Covián palace, from the 16th century, the town hall building, from the 17th century, or various constructions popular with arcades, the church building from the end of the 19th century as well as good examples of modernist architecture, such as the Casa de los Pablos.