Robledillo de Gata

At its mid-point the town recorded a population of 657 inhabitants and earned a description in Pascual Madoz's monumental geographical-statistical-historical dictionary of Spain, one of the great 19th-century surveys of Spanish territory. In 2019 it was admitted to the association Los Pueblos Más Bonitos de España, the Most Beautiful Villages of Spain.

Robledillo de Gata was declared a protected Cultural Heritage Site (Bien de Interés Cultural) in March 1994, recognised as one of the finest surviving examples of rural vernacular architecture in the province of Cáceres. Its relative isolation and limited road access have been the main reasons it survived largely intact. The town follows a partial medieval street plan that has changed only slowly over time.

Its overall shape resembles a long funnel, wider at the southern end and narrowing as it climbs the slope. Streets are steep, narrow and winding, and several pass beneath passageways formed where upper floors project across the lane or where deep eaves on opposite houses meet overhead, creating small tunnels that produce a striking play of light and shadow. The houses share a consistent character.

Walls are of adobe, sometimes painted around doors and windows but generally left in their natural state, giving the village its distinctive ochre-siena colour. Others are built of fine rubble masonry with slate corner stones, and timber framing, occasionally with cane panels, runs through much of the construction. Wooden eaves are pronounced; in the narrowest streets they bridge the gap between facing houses entirely.

Most homes have continuous balconies on their upper floors, with wooden balustrades and drying terraces. Agricultural functions are built into the same structure, and it is common to see maize cobs drying on the large balconies. Doorways are flat-lintel with wooden doors approached by a short flight of steps, and windows are small, also flat-lintel, with whitewashed surrounds.

The top floor, used as a loft or granary, has almost no windows. Roofs are double-pitched and covered with traditional Arab-style curved tiles. The parish church, dedicated to Nuestra Señora de la Asunción, is a single-nave rectangular building divided into four bays with a timber roof.

Its most notable feature is the Mudéjar ceiling of the sacristy. The church is served by the parish priest of Cadalso in the Diocese of Coria-Cáceres. The town also has three hermitages: the Ermita del Cordero and the Ermita del Humilladero, both dating from the 16th century, and the Ermita de San Miguel, built in plastered slate masonry.

Robledillo de Gata lies half hidden among terraces in the valley of the Árrago, in the Sierra de Gata. Its isolation kept its vernacular architecture intact: adobe walls mostly left unpainted, which give the village its ochre colour, with slate, chestnut timber and curved Arab tiles. The streets are steep, narrow and winding, and in places upper floors or deep eaves meet overhead to form small tunnels. Maize is often seen drying on the long wooden balconies.

Water runs through the village in channels, fountains and wash houses, and the Fuente del Chorrito was long a place to meet and work together. The Museo del Aceite, in the old Molino del Medio, keeps a century-old olive press. The sixteenth-century church of Nuestra Señora de la Asunción has a Mudéjar ceiling in its sacristy, and the Ermita del Humilladero also dates from the sixteenth century.

Robledillo de Gata joined Los Pueblos Más Bonitos de España in 2020. The label is awarded by a private association, not the state: a village applies and is audited against around 40 criteria, from how its historic buildings are conserved to the upkeep of its streets, and members are reviewed and can lose it. Robledillo de Gata is one of 9 members in Extremadura, out of 126 in Spain. See all heritage towns in Extremadura.

The village's steep, narrow layout makes driving inside it impractical; the best approach is to leave your car at the entrance near the hermitage and continue on foot. From Cáceres, take the A-66 towards Salamanca to exit 505, then the EX-109 past Perales del Puerto, pick up the EX-205 towards Hervás, and after about 15 km join the CCV-5.1 via Cadalso and Descargamaría. From Madrid, take the A-5 to Navalmoral de la Mata, then the EX-A1 to Montehermoso, continue to Pozuelo de Zarzón and follow the CCV-5.1 through Cadalso and Descargamaría.

From Salamanca, come via Ciudad Rodrigo and Martiago, crossing into Extremadura at the Puerto Nuevo pass. Local products worth seeking out include natural honey, olive oil, and Vino de Pitarra, a home-made, light-coloured wine of strong flavour made from local red and white grapes, produced in cellars beneath most houses (in autumn you can smell the fermenting must in the streets). Food specialities include roast and stewed kid, blood-free morcilla made with pork fat and bread, lemon salad, and pastries such as perrunillas, floretas and sacatrapos.

The village has several mesones serving local wine, aguardiente, and Gloria, a high-strength spirit that is rare elsewhere. Water from the tap is described as excellent quality, the town being the first settlement on the river as it descends from the mountains.