Montilla () is a town and

municipality A municipality is usually a single administrative division having corporate status and powers of self-government or jurisdiction as granted by national and regional laws to which it is subordinate. The term ''municipality'' may also mean the ...

Spain , image_flag = Bandera de España.svg , image_coat = Escudo de España (mazonado).svg , national_motto = '' Plus ultra'' (Latin)(English: "Further Beyond") , national_anthem = (English: "Royal March") , ...

, located in the autonomous community of

Andalusia Andalusia (, ; es, Andalucía ) is the southernmost autonomous community in Peninsular Spain. It is the most populous and the second-largest autonomous community in the country. It is officially recognised as a "historical nationality". The ...

. , the town had a population of 23,209, which makes it the fourth most populated municipality of the Province of Córdoba. It lies 32 miles south of the provincial capital, Córdoba.

Food and drink

The

olive oil Olive oil is a liquid fat obtained from olives (the fruit of ''Olea europaea''; family Oleaceae), a traditional tree crop of the Mediterranean Basin, produced by pressing whole olives and extracting the oil. It is commonly used in cooking: ...

of the district is abundant and good, and it is the peculiar flavour of the pale dry light

wine Wine is an alcoholic drink typically made from Fermentation in winemaking, fermented grapes. Yeast in winemaking, Yeast consumes the sugar in the grapes and converts it to ethanol and carbon dioxide, releasing heat in the process. Different ...

of Montilla that gives its name to the

sherry Sherry ( es, jerez ) is a fortified wine made from white grapes that are grown near the city of Jerez de la Frontera in Andalusia, Spain. Sherry is produced in a variety of styles made primarily from the Palomino grape, ranging from light versi ...

known as

Amontillado Amontillado () is a variety of sherry wine characterised by being darker than fino but lighter than oloroso. It is named after the Montilla region of Spain, where the style originated in the 18th century, although the name "Amontillado" is some ...

. Montilla is the largest component of the Montilla-Moriles designated wine region. The large wineries Alvear and

Gran Barquero Gran may refer to: People *Grandmother, affectionately known as "gran" * Gran (name) Places * Gran, the historical German name for Esztergom, a city and the primatial metropolitan see of Hungary * Gran, Norway, a municipality in Innlandet coun ...

are located in Montilla, which has an annual ''vendimia'' (wine-harvest) festival.

Cultural heritage

Local folkloric figures are the witches "las Camachas", mentioned by Cervantes in the " Dialogue of the Dogs". The central portion of that work is set in a convent which today contains the town hall (in Spanish, ''ayuntamiento'').

Notable residents

Montilla was the birthplace of "The Great Captain," Gonzalo or

Gonsalvo of Córdoba Consalvo, also occasionally spelled Gonsalvo and also rarely Consalvos, is an Italian male given name. It also occurs as a surname. Its name day is February the 5th. Origin It is derived from the medieval Latin name Gundisalvus, which was the Lat ...

(1453-1515), and contains the ruined

castle A castle is a type of fortified structure built during the Middle Ages predominantly by the nobility or royalty and by military orders. Scholars debate the scope of the word ''castle'', but usually consider it to be the private fortified r ...

of his father,

Pedro Fernández de Córdoba Pedro is a masculine given name. Pedro is the Spanish, Portuguese, and Galician name for ''Peter''. Its French equivalent is Pierre while its English and Germanic form is Peter. The counterpart patronymic surname of the name Pedro, meaning " ...

El Inca Garcilaso de la Vega Inca Garcilaso de la Vega (12 April 1539 – 23 April 1616), born Gómez Suárez de Figueroa and known as El Inca, was a chronicler and writer born in the Viceroyalty of Peru. Sailing to Spain at 21, he was educated informally there, where he l ...

lived thirty years in Montilla, and the future saint Juan de Ávila lived for the last fifteen years of his life in Montilla, where he is buried.

Notes

References

External links

* Municipalities in the Province of Córdoba (Spain) {{andalusia-geo-stub