Village
Quinto is the capital of the Ribera Baja del Ebro, in Zaragoza, in the Ebro depression, which borders its territory to the east, 43 km from the capital. Its name comes from the Latin quintus and refers to the fifth milestone of the Roman road between Celsa and Caesaraugusta. At Las Dehesas de Quinto, on the cliffs overlooking the Ebro next to the bridge of Gelsa, a settlement from the Early Iron Age, from 750-500 BC, has been documented, with rectangular houses and an agricultural and livestock economy. Its mudéjar church of la Asunción, from the 15th century, houses Spain's first mummy museum. On 26 August 1937 the Ejército Popular took the town at the start of the offensive on Belchite and established its headquarters there until March 1938. It has 1,882 inhabitants.
Activity
The patron saint festivities of Quinto are in honour of Santa Ana (26 July) and are held from 24 to 30 July. According to local tradition, the saint's intercession put an end to a locust plague that had ravaged the comarca for seven years; since then 26 July is a feast day and the Virgin is carried in procession. They begin with the chupinazo rocket and the parade of the town's nine cabezudos (big-head figures).
Curiosity
The name of Quinto recalls the fifth milestone of the Roman road that linked Lépida Celsa, present-day Velilla de Ebro, with Caesaraugusta. According to the municipality's article, around this milestone the Roman administration is thought to have established some form of military service, which gave rise to the settlement that later took the name Quinto, “the fifth” in Latin.
Monument
The church of the Assumption of Our Lady is the parish church of Quinto, capital of the Ribera Baja del Ebro region, and stands on the site of the town's former castle. It was built between the 14th and 18th centuries in successive phases, to a design attributed to Mahoma Rami, architect to Benedict XIII. It has Mudéjar brickwork, except for the base of the tower, which is of stone. It consists of a four-bay nave covered with ribbed vaults, with chapels between the buttresses and a polygonal chancel with radiating chapels added in the 16th century. On the south side stands a four-tier tower decorated with Mudéjar motifs and topped by battlements and a spire, and inside the main altarpiece stands out above a spacious, light-filled area typical of the Gothic nave.
Activity
Quinto celebrates San Antón on 16 and 17 January, with bonfires and a procession of the historic confraternity, and the Semana de la Mujer around Santa Águeda (5 February) and Carnival; its actual patron saint is Santa Ana (24-30 July).
Nature
Quinto, capital of the Ribera Baja del Ebro, sits on the slope of hills above the right bank of the Ebro valley. Its fertile lowlands combine traditional irrigation, documented since 1149 with the opening of an irrigation channel and the resettlement of Christian colonists, with steppe areas that compete with the new market gardens under the protection of the Reserva Ornitológica de El Planerón.
Monument
Quinto preserves the hermitage of Nuestra Señora de Bonastre, about 7 km from the village, Baroque in style (probably 18th century) and rebuilt after the Civil War, and that of Nuestra Señora de Matamala, almost 4 km away, near the Ebro.
Monument
The town hall of Quinto, according to its Wikipedia article, is a 20th-century building, and so is not, properly speaking, an old historic town hall.
Historical milestone
The name Quinto comes from the Latin quintus and refers to the fifth milestone of the Roman road linking the colony of Lépida Celsa with Caesaraugusta. The route of that road explains the position of the village on the river terrace of the Ebro.
Historical milestone
The Mudéjar church of the Asunción, of the fifteenth century, houses the first mummy museum in Spain, with bodies naturally mummified in its crypt between the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries. The humidity and ventilation conditions of the subsoil explain their preservation.
Historical milestone
The Popular Army of the Republic took Quinto in August 1937 at the start of the offensive on Belchite and maintained a headquarters there until March 1938. The fighting left the upper quarter and the old Mudéjar church in ruins.