Village
Épila is a town in the comarca of Valdejalón, in the province of Zaragoza, situated in the valley of the Jalón river, at 336 m above sea level, next to the Llanos de Plasencia and at the foot of the Sierra de Nava Alta and the Sierra de Monegre, the first foothills of the Zaragoza stretch of the Iberian System. The earliest settlement was located at the Cabezo de Ballesteros, with remains from the 8th-7th centuries BC; historians place here the Celtiberian Bis Polis, which in Roman times became Segontia, mentioned in the Antonine Itinerary between Caesaraugusta and Augusta Emerita, and it is from that period that the old bridge over the Jalón dates. An ally of the Numantines, it was destroyed after Rome's victory. The town preserves three monuments of great artistic value and the sweet known as Delicias de Rodanas. It has 4,704 inhabitants (INE 2025).
Monument
The Palace of the Counts of Aranda, in Épila (Valdejalón, Zaragoza), is one of the town's three great monuments, together with the church of Santa María la Mayor, baroque and from the 18th century, and the convent of the Immaculate Conception, built between 1624 and 1629. In Renaissance style, with proto-baroque features and late Mudejar touches according to the article on the municipality, its construction began in 1393, when the Perellós family sold the town to Lope Ximénez de Urrea; its noblest façade is not the main one but the rear one, which faces the orchard. It belonged to the counts of Aranda of the Urrea family and later passed, through marriage, to the House of Híjar; given to the municipality in 1998, it is today under municipal ownership and is undergoing restoration work as a protected historic monument.
Monument
The church and convent of the Concepción of Épila (Zaragoza) form, together with the palace of the counts of Aranda and the church of Santa María la Mayor, one of the most notable religious complexes of the 17th century in Aragon. It was built between 1624 and 1629, when Philip IV granted the counts of Aranda the grandeeship of Spain in recognition of their building enterprises. It combines late Mudejar elements with an incipient baroque, and is connected to the palace by an elevated passageway; its latticed screens allowed the outside to be seen without the occupants being seen from without. It preserves frescoes, some attributed to the painter Juan Galván, and wooden ceilings decorated with heraldic coats of arms. It remains inhabited by cloistered Franciscan Conceptionist nuns.
Monument
The church of Santa María la Mayor, in Épila, is a large Catholic parish church, built in the 18th century following baroque-classicist models. It has three naves of equal height and a tripartite straight chevet, with barrel vaults decorated with mural paintings and a dome over the crossing. Its monumental façade stands out, with a classical portal flanked by Ionic pilasters and a triangular pediment, and two towers of which only the right one was finished in the 18th century; the left, its twin, was not completed until 2011. Work began in 1722 and the church was consecrated in 1798; between 1771 and 1782 the architect Agustín Sanz, a follower of Ventura Rodríguez, raised the crossing with its dome on a drum.
Curiosity
A traditional sweet from Épila shaped like a small madeleine, made with local produce.
Monument
The hermitage of Santa María Magdalena is located in Épila, in the Valdejalón region, about 800 metres in a straight line from the town cemetery. It stands in an area known as las cuevas (the caves), so called because of the numerous cave houses and wine cellars surrounding it, today mostly uninhabited, in a degraded and marginal setting within the municipal district.
Activity
Agricultural and livestock fair of Épila, held over three days and a benchmark event for promoting the primary sector of the Valdejalón region. It has already reached its twentieth edition and includes commercial stalls, an exhibition of agricultural machinery, livestock displays, food tastings, equestrian shows and musical performances. It is organised by the Épila town council with the support of regional and provincial administrations, together with agricultural cooperatives and livestock associations.
Activity
Local festivities of Épila, traditionally on 27 May and 17 September, in the town that was the seat of the counts of Aranda from 1483 and of the sanctuary of the Virgen de Rodanas.
Monument
Hermitage in the municipal district of Épila, a town that in 1348 was the scene of the defeat of the Liga de la Unión against Pedro IV, and which from 1483 was the residence of the counts of Aranda, a title that became extinct there in 1798 with the death of Pedro Pablo Abarca de Bolea.
Nature
The Jalón, with a course of 224 kilometres and the main tributary of the Ebro on its right bank, passes near Épila in its lower stretch, already in the Ebro depression, before flowing into the river at Torres de Berrellén. In the Jalón valley, between Ricla, Épila, Rueda de Jalón, Urrea de Jalón, Salillas de Jalón and Bárboles, inhabited cave houses are still preserved. Beside the river lies the town of Épila, where a strike at the sugar factory, opened in 1908 and which came to employ fifteen hundred workers, ended on 3 January 1931 with two deaths from Guardia Civil gunfire; the factory closed in 1969.
Activity
Épila's winter festival is held in a town where artisan honey is produced from hives set among the surrounding rosemary- and thyme-covered hills, recognised with the C de Calidad Alimentaria seal of the Government of Aragón.
Historical milestone
On 21 July 1348 the troops of Pedro IV defeated at Épila the League of the Union, which brought together nobles and cities opposed to royal power. After the victory the king abolished the Unionist privileges and destroyed the documents that recorded them.
Historical milestone
In 1483 Lope Ximénez de Urrea received the title of count of Aranda and fixed in Épila the residence of the lineage. The house governed the villa for three centuries, until in 1798 Pedro Pablo Abarca de Bolea, minister of Carlos III, died there without male issue.
Historical milestone
The sugar factory opened in 1908 came to employ some one thousand five hundred workers. On 2 January 1931 a strike broke out and the following day the Civil Guard fired on the crowd, with two dead. The sugar factory closed in 1969.
Food and drink
In Épila honey is made by hand with hives from the surrounding hills of rosemary and thyme; one of the local brands holds the C de Calidad Alimentaria seal of the Government of Aragon. It is used in confectionery and with curd cheese.