Setenil de Las Bodegas – the City Built Into the Rocks
Setenil de las Bodegas is a small town in the province of
Cádiz, Spain. Named after its once flourishing wineries - bodegas -
Setenil de las Bodegas (which means Setenil of the Wine Cellars) is
unique among the pueblos blancos, white villages, of Andalucia
and particularly famous for its dwellings built into the rock overhangs.
The town extends along the course of the Rio Trejo with some houses
being built into the rock walls of the gorge itself, created by
enlarging natural caves or overhangs and adding an external wall.
Modern
Setenil evolved from a fortified Moorish town that occupied a bluff
overlooking a sharp bend in the Rio Trejo northwest of Ronda. The castle
dates from at least the Almohad period in the 12th century. However,
evidence of other nearby cave-dwelling societies, such as those at the
Cueva de la Pileta west of Ronda, where habitation has been tracked back
more than 25,000 years suggests that Setenil was occupied much much
earlier. It was a spectacular defense place at the Arab age, which
resisted several times the attacks of the Christian troops, before being
conquered by the Catholic Monarchs in 1488.
The
name of Setenil de las Bodegas dates from the 15th century, when new
Christian settlers, in addition to maintaining the Arab olive and almond
groves, introduced vineyards. The first two crops still flourish in the
district but the once flourishing wineries—bodegas— were wiped out by
insect infestation of the 1860s, which effectively destroyed most
European vine stocks.
Over the intervening
centuries, Setenil also gained a reputation for its meat products,
particularly chorizo sausage and cerdo (pork) from pigs bred in the
surrounding hills. As well as meat, it has a reputation for producing
fine pasteles (pastries), and its bars and restaurants are among the
best in the region.
