El Barco de Ávila

El Barco de Ávila's origins go back to the Vetones, the pre-Roman people who built a hillfort on the commanding high ground above the river crossing. Arab occupation left its own mark on the town: agriculture improved, freshwater wells were dug — almost every house on the Calle Mayor had one to sustain the population during sieges — and place names like Navamorisca, Navalmoro, and Navamures still carry echoes of that period. A significant Jewish community was also present, working the most skilled and profitable trades of the day.

For much of its medieval history the town belonged to the Señorío de Valdecorneja, a territory held by the House of Álvarez de Toledo, the Dukes of Alba, together with the communities of Piedrahíta, El Mirón, La Horcajada, and Bohoyo.

El Barco de Ávila figures in Spain's story of the Americas more than once. Pedro de la Gasca was born nearby, in Santa María de los Caballeros, roughly seven kilometres from the town's ancestral house. He served on the Supreme Council of the Inquisition before being sent by the Crown to Peru in 1546 to restore order following the death of the first viceroy. He pacified the territory, authorised several expeditions, and founded the city of La Paz and a city called El Barco. He returned to Spain in 1550 and died in 1567; he is buried in the church of La Magdalena in Valladolid, which he himself founded.

Around 1525, Juan Maldonado y Ordóñez de Villaquirán was born in the town. He travelled to Bogotá in 1543 and later founded the Venezuelan town of San Cristóbal in the Táchira region on 31 March 1561.

The town also has a documented, if debated, connection to Columbus's voyages. A ship's boy named Antón del Barco is recorded as having served on the vessel Gutierra during Columbus's second voyage, earning 666 maravedíes a month. A sailor called Juan del Barco is documented as one of the first men to leave the Niña to explore Cuba on 12 June 1494, also during the second voyage.

The urban layout of El Barco de Ávila took shape during the repopulation period of the Middle Ages and filled in further over the following centuries. Several structures from that era survive.

The old bridge — known locally as the *puente viejo* — spans the river at what was once a Roman crossing point. The Romans built the original structure, but repeated wars forced a reconstruction in the Romanesque style. That shape is still legible today: eight unequal arches and broad pillars of cushioned ashlar, rising in the characteristic *lomo de asno* (donkey's back) profile. A defensive tower once stood at its centre, but Napoleonic troops destroyed the central section during the War of Independence. The bridge was rebuilt a decade later; the ruined tower sank into the river and traces of it can still be seen near the *charco de las tenerías*.

The castle sits above the river and bridge at the highest point of the valley, built over the Vetton hillfort the Romans had earlier destroyed. Constructed in the Middle Ages and rebuilt later, its square perimeter encloses roughly 1,700 square metres, not counting the moat, drawbridge, and other elements now gone. It was used as a municipal cemetery for part of the nineteenth century, which caused significant damage. The castle is owned by the House of Alba, has since been restored, and now hosts cultural events.

The town walls, also attributed to Ramón de Borgoña — the builder behind the walls of Ávila, Salamanca, and Segovia — originally encircled the settlement in a pentagonal plan. They were about a metre thick and had three main gates. One Romanesque gateway, the Puerta del Ahorcado (also called the Puerta de Ávila or Puerta de Piedrahíta), is the only one still standing. It takes its common name from the tradition that a town warden was hanged there. It was rebuilt at some point but retains its Romanesque semicircular arch and flanking defensive towers.

The church on the site where San Pedro del Barco was born in 1088 was built in 1663 and stands on the same spot where he is said to have returned late in life.