Riaza

Riaza's origins lie in the late medieval period, when the kings Alfonso VI, Urraca I and Alfonso VII organised the southern foothills of the Sistema Central into small settlements focused on livestock, forestry and mining. This happened after the frontier with al-Ándalus had been pushed south to the Tagus valley. The oldest documents refer to the place as Aldeaherreros; it took its current name later, and today holds the status of villa.

The heart of Riaza is its Plaza Mayor, an unusual circular space with a sand floor, ringed on all sides by arcaded stone buildings. It functions as the town's main meeting point: café terraces fill the arcades in summer, and on Mondays a popular market sets up here. In September the square becomes a bullring for the Fiestas de Nuestra Señora del Manto and Hontanares, continuing a long local tradition.

The main church is the Iglesia de Nuestra Señora del Manto. The town also has three hermitages — the Ermita de San Juan, the Ermita de San Roque, and the Ermita de la Virgen de Hontanares — spread around the area.

Riaza sits at 1,187 metres, on the northern edge of the Ayllón massif where the Sistema Central meets the Castilian plateau. The Riaza river and several mountain streams run through the municipal territory. The wider municipality covers a spread-out area including mountain enclaves in the Sierra de Ayllón — reaching up to 1,900 metres — as well as lower outlying hamlets such as Aldeanueva del Monte and Barahona de Fresno. Several villages were absorbed into the municipality in 1979, among them Alquité, Becerril, Madriguera, and others in the sierra enclave.