Oropesa

Oropesa passed through Roman and then Arab control before being reconquered and absorbed into the jurisdiction of Ávila. Its first known documentary mention dates to 9 July 1277, when Alfonso X ordered a local official to travel to Oropesa and Torralba to address damages caused by those who had entered the estate of Velada. At that time the town belonged to the Order of Santa María de España.

The decisive shift in its fortunes came in 1366, when Enrique II granted the lordship of the town to García Álvarez de Toledo as reward for giving up the mastership of the Order of Santiago and for other services rendered. A later descendant, Fernando Álvarez de Toledo y Herrera, was named the first Count of Oropesa by the Catholic Monarchs.

Several settlements once existed within the municipal area — among them Aravalles, Guadiervás, and Fuente del Maestro — all now destroyed or abandoned. The town also earns a literary footnote: its name appears in stanza 1702 of the *Libro de Buen Amor*, the celebrated 14th-century work by the Archpriest of Hita.

The castle is the town's defining structure, occupying the north side of the old town. It is in fact two buildings side by side: an older section dating to the Moorish period, itself raised over a rectangular Roman foundation with circular towers, and a newer section begun around 1402 by the Álvarez de Toledo family. The newer part has a rectangular plan with distinctive towers and an interior courtyard entered through a single gate, reached by a stepped ramp said to be among the most notable in Spain. The parade ground, now used for cultural events, forms the heart of the fortress. Both sections are listed as a cultural heritage asset.

The Church of Nuestra Señora de la Asunción is a Plateresque building with a single nave divided into three bays and a doorway of particular note. The former Jesuit College, in Renaissance style, combines a church — dedicated to San Bernardo — with a colonnaded courtyard. The Renaissance Palacio Nuevo has a three-storey main façade with an octagonal corner element known as the Peinador de la Duquesa. The Baroque Ermita de las Peñitas is a simple rectangular building with a barrel-vaulted nave. All four are listed heritage assets. The town's main gathering point is the Plaza del Navarro, whose most recognisable feature is a clock tower from 1901, its arch spanning a narrow lane below.