Montilla () is a town and

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

Spain Spain, or the Kingdom of Spain, is a country in Southern Europe, Southern and Western Europe with territories in North Africa. Featuring the Punta de Tarifa, southernmost point of continental Europe, it is the largest country in Southern Eur ...

, located in the autonomous community of

Andalusia Andalusia ( , ; , ) is the southernmost autonomous communities of Spain, autonomous community in Peninsular Spain, located in the south of the Iberian Peninsula, in southwestern Europe. It is the most populous and the second-largest autonomou ...

. , 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 vegetable oil obtained by pressing whole olives (the fruit of ''Olea europaea'', a traditional Tree fruit, tree crop of the Mediterranean Basin) and extracting the oil. It is commonly used in cooking for frying foods, as a cond ...

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

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

of Montilla that gives its name to the

sherry Sherry ( ) is a fortified wine produced from white grapes grown around the city of Jerez de la Frontera in Andalusia, Spain. Sherry is a drink produced in a variety of styles made primarily from the Palomino grape, ranging from light versio ...

known as

Amontillado Amontillado () is a variety of sherry wine characterised by being darker than fino sherry, but lighter than oloroso sherry. Amontillado wine is named after the Montilla municipality, in Andalusia, Spain, where the style of sherry originated in th ...

. Montilla is the largest component of the

Montilla-Moriles Montilla-Moriles is a Spanish Denominación de Origen, Denominación de Origen Protegida (DOP) for wines located in the southern part of the province of Province of Córdoba (Spain), Córdoba (Andalusia, Spain). It is bounded by the river Genil t ...

designated wine region. The large wineries Alvear and Gran Barquero 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 (1453-1515), and contains the ruined

castle A castle is a type of fortification, fortified structure built during the Middle Ages predominantly by the nobility or royalty and by Military order (monastic society), military orders. Scholars usually consider a ''castle'' to be the private ...

of his father, Pedro Fernández de Córdoba. El Inca Garcilaso de la Vega lived thirty years in Montilla, and the future saint

Juan de Ávila ''Juan'' is a given name, the Spanish and Manx versions of '' John''. The name is of Hebrew origin and has the meaning "God has been gracious." It is very common in Spain and in other Spanish-speaking countries around the world and in the Philip ...

Food and drink

Cultural heritage

Notable residents

See also

Notes

References

External links