Roads which links Gaucin with Ronda affords the traveller
an impressive view of the mountains covered in the
green of cork oaks and gall oaks, into which the white
villages of the Genal Valley are set like jewels,
with streets which still conjure up the magic of their
Andalusi-Arabic past. The aforementioned busy thoroughfare
does not offer a panorama of Benalauria, which is
two kilometres from the the crossroads with the A369
highway, but the traveller will find a detour to visit
this most special enclave well worthwhile. As is the
case with most of the villages in the Genal Valley,
its steep streets serve to provide views of both the
unusual urban structure of the village and a wide
panoramic view of the surrounding mountains. Walking
through the streets of Benalauria, we soon come to
the square which is home to the 18th century Town
Hall, opposite which stands a collection of slender
palm trees which are an unequivocal reminder of the
village’s Moorish past, and, moving a little
further on, we find Saint Domingo’s Parish Church,
built in the 15th and 16th centuries.
Historical notes
Its name may be derived from the Berber tribe of Banu
al Auria, who were part of the first Moslem expeditions
to cross the Straits of Gibraltar in 711, led by El
Tariq. When Ronda fell to the Catholic Monarchs, the
Marquis of Cadiz was given the task of capturing the
villages and hamlets which depended on Gaucin, which
he did with little opposition. One of these settlements
was Benalauria, which subsequently fell under the
jurisdiction of Benadalid, then the capital of the
region. In 1570, Benalauria, a village populated primarily
by moriscos - Moslem converts to Christianity -, took
up arms against Benadalid, burning Montemayor Castle,
the church and the priest’s house, as well as
all of the deeds pertaining to both villages, which
were part of the estate of the Duke of Alcala. In
the wake of these events, the moriscos were imprisoned
or deported, and the area was repopulated with Old
Christians from The Coronil. In the 19th century,
Benalauria became an independent municipality with
its own local council.
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