Setenil de las Bodegas

Objects found in the local caves show the site was occupied at least 5,000 years ago. Setenil's place in history was shaped above all by the Reconquista. The town controlled a key approach to the Nasrid kingdom of Granada, and Castilian forces besieged it seven times — a fact that may explain the name itself, derived from the Latin *Septem nihil*, "seven times nothing." The decisive siege came on 21 September 1484, when the Catholic Monarchs finally took the town. It was then declared a royal township, and in 1501 received a charter of privileges comparable to those enjoyed by Seville.

After repopulation and the redistribution of land, noble families such as the Ortiz, Zamudio and Guzmán settled here, living off vineyards, grain, livestock, woodland and fishing. The town gained a church, a hospital and a seminary. In 1630, after years of legal disputes, Setenil won independence from Ronda by royal decree. During the Napoleonic occupation of the peninsula, its people joined other villages of the Cádiz highlands in armed resistance against French troops. The 20th century brought emigration and economic hardship, but Setenil has since stabilised around agriculture and, increasingly, tourism.

Setenil was declared a protected historic-artistic ensemble in 1985. The town's most striking feature is its urban layout: houses run downhill from the castle along the course of the river, built directly against and beneath overhanging rock faces. Rather than excavating the rock, residents simply enclosed the cliff wall and extended their homes lengthwise beneath it — a rare form of dwelling known as *abrigo bajo rocas*, distinct from the semi-troglodyte constructions found elsewhere in Andalucía.

The Nasrid castle is one of the most complete of its kind, retaining some 530 metres of outer wall, around 40 towers, and much of its original medieval urban fabric, including the keep, baths, mosque remains and a coracha — a fortified water-supply gallery 40 metres long and 30 metres high, with three levels and internal water channels that have generated most of the town's folk legends.

Other monuments include the Church of Nuestra Señora de la Encarnación, which is effectively two buildings in one: a Mudéjar church and a Gothic church combined. Several hermitages survive — San Sebastián, San Benito (built over a Moorish mosque), Nuestra Señora del Carmen and Nuestra Señora de la Concepción. The former town hall, originally a defensive tower giving access to the fortress, now serves as the tourist office.