La Alberca

People lived in La Alberca before the Romans arrived, as shown by the pre-Roman settlement that part of the town sits on. Some Visigothic materials were later reused to build the Majadas Viejas hermitage. Religious inscriptions on door lintels suggest the inhabitants were converts who used this way to demonstrate their faith. Medieval repopulation occurred between certain centuries under King Alfonso IX of León. Many French settlers arrived through Raimundo de Borgoña, a French noble married to the future Queen Urraca I of León, Alfonso VI's eldest daughter. This French connection explains the numerous French place names in the Sierra de Francia.

La Alberca remained under the Leonese Crown, one of the few Sierra de Francia places not belonging to the County of Miranda del Castañar. A crucial late medieval event was the 1434 discovery of the Virgin of Peña de Francia image, creating a pilgrimage sanctuary that attracted Camino de Santiago pilgrims following the southern route via the Calzada de la Plata. Local tradition tells how Albercan women defeated Portuguese troops from the Prior of Crato in 1465, capturing a banner still preserved today and celebrated on the second day of Easter. The town became Spain's first Historic-Artistic Monument in 1940.

The parish church of Nuestra Señora de la Asunción was completed in 1733, the same year as Salamanca's new cathedral. It features a polychromed granite pulpit and the notable Christ of the Sweat. The tower was built 212 years before the current church, funded by the first Dukes of Alba whose coat of arms appears carved on one corner. Chronicles from 1693 mention a clock rivaling Benavente's, and each bell has its own story - in 1520, townspeople donated rings and silver jewelry to complete a bell's handles.

Several hermitages dot the area. Nuestra Señora de Majadas Viejas sits three kilometers away toward Mogarraz in a chestnut and oak forest, featuring a Romanesque Virgin reproduction and granite pulpit. San Marcos hermitage, begun in 1703, now lies in impressive ruins with views of Peña de Francia. The Cristo del Humilladero hermitage marks the old Salamanca entrance route, with its Christ carried in Holy Thursday processions. San Blas hermitage, formerly the cemetery, hosts the Banner Day celebration where the Portuguese banner captured by local women is displayed.

The Batuecas valley contains prehistoric caves and an 1599 Carmelite monastery with eighteen scattered hermitages. The Sanctuary of the Virgin of Peña de Francia crowns the peak at 1,723 meters.