Priego de Córdoba

Human presence in the area around Priego de Córdoba goes back to the Middle Palaeolithic period. Under Roman rule it functioned as an agricultural subdivision of the Latin municipality of Ipolcobulcula, present-day Carcabuey. During the Caliphate of Córdoba it was known as Medina Bahiga and served as the capital of one of al-Ándalus's territorial districts.

In the 9th century it became a base for the rebel leader Ibn Mastana, a follower of Omar Ben Hafsún who styled himself Lord of Priego and Luque, and the town saw a period of relative prosperity. After the Caliphate fell, Priego passed through the Zirid Kingdom of Granada, the Nasrid Kingdom, and then the Almoravids before Ferdinand III took it in 1225. Later centuries brought a flourishing Baroque tradition under the influence of architect Francisco Hurtado Izquierdo, and a textile industry that drove the population to around 27,000 and earned the town city status from Alfonso XII in 1881.

The textile sector expanded again in the 1920s, declined in the 1970s, and eventually shifted toward clothing manufacture.

Priego de Córdoba has over thirty sites catalogued as Andalusian Historical Heritage. Its most distinctive quarter is the Barrio de la Villa, a Moorish-era neighbourhood of narrow, whitewashed, flower-lined streets comparable in character to Granada's Albaicín or Córdoba's Jewish quarter. It was declared a historic-artistic ensemble in 1972 and sits alongside the castle, bounded by the Balcón del Adarve.

This natural terrace stands roughly 55 metres above the surrounding landscape, runs along the eastern edge of the old town, and has three continuously flowing fountains. The Arab castle itself is a primarily military fortress reinforced after the Christian Reconquest, featuring several square towers and one cylindrical tower. Its 30-metre Torre del Homenaje, also called Torre Gorda, was declared a Historic-Artistic Monument in 1943 and is now a museum space.

Nearby, the Calle del Río contains a number of late-18th to early-19th century mansions, among them the birthplace of Niceto Alcalá Zamora, the first president of Spain's Second Republic. The old slaughterhouse and market building, constructed between 1576 and 1579 by architect Francisco del Castillo, presents a Mannerist facade with Italian influence, a central courtyard with semicircular arches, and a spiral staircase.