San Vicente de la Sonsierra

People have lived around San Vicente since prehistory, a Neolithic dolmen and an Iron Age settlement both survive in the area. The first written record mentions the kings of Pamplona, and in 1014 Sancho Garcés III gave the town and its lands to the monastery of Leyre. He also built a fortified bridge over the Ebro, which stood until a flood destroyed it in 1775.

In 1172 Sancho VI of Navarre granted San Vicente the same charter rights as Laguardia, and his son Sancho VII built the castle and town walls in 1194. The town sat on a contested border for centuries, caught repeatedly in wars between Castile and Navarre. In 1367 troops loyal to Enrique de Trastámara, unable to take the castle, burned the surrounding villages.

As a reward for their resistance, the inhabitants were granted noble status by the king of Navarre. San Vicente remained Navarrese territory until 1463, when it finally passed to Castile after seven centuries. In 1790 it was among the founding municipalities of the Real Sociedad Económica de La Rioja.

The upper town forms a walled enclosure containing three structures together: the parish church of Santa María la Mayor, the ruined castle of San Vicente, and the hermitage of San Juan de Arriba. Below the walls, the Basílica de Nuestra Señora de los Remedios and the hermitages of San Roque and San Martín de Nava are also worth seeking out. A medieval bridge crosses the Ebro.

The outstanding single monument, however, sits outside town near the hamlet of Peciña. The Ermita de Santa María de la Piscina stands alone on a ridge between two hills, beside a necropolis. Built in the Romanesque period with few later additions, it is considered the most complete and best-preserved Romanesque building in all of La Rioja. Nearby is the Neolithic dolmen of La Cascaja. The Gothic hermitage of Orzales, in the same area, survives but is at risk of collapse.