Village
Ricla is a town in the comarca of Valdejalón, in Zaragoza, with 3,019 inhabitants, situated in the valley of the Jalón river, which here receives the waters of the Grío river, between the Sierra de Monegre and the Puerto de la Perdiz. Historians place the Celtiberian city of Nertóbriga within its territory; Ricla's coat of arms, with a wolf's pelt pierced by a lance, recalls its surrender to the Roman consul Marcelo Claudio Marcelo in the year 152 BC. From the Roman past remain the ruins of a bridge and tombs with grave goods. After the Arab invasion, the Mudejar past shaped the layout of its streets; its Moorish population remained in the town for centuries after the reconquest of 1120 by Alfonso I. It preserves an old rock castle, of possible Muslim origin, later transformed into a palace.
Monument
The castle-palace of Ricla, in the Zaragoza comarca of Valdejalón, occupies a crag next to the Jalón river and originates in a Muslim fortification raised between the 11th and 18th centuries. In the 15th century the present castle-palace was built on top of it, with walls of brick and rendered rammed earth, of which visible sections survive today on the calle de la Cruz. The complex also preserves a wall of roughly squared stone, two underground chambers carved into the rock and the remains of a rammed-earth tower. Greatly altered over time, the building is nowadays given over to housing.
Activity
One of the main festivals of Ricla (Valdejalón, Zaragoza), in honour of Our Lady of Mount Carmel, whose feast is celebrated on 16 July; the village also celebrates, on different dates, the festivals of Our Lady of the Media Villa.
Monument
The tall brick Mudéjar tower of the church of Ricla displays a striking mixed combination: the lower half is square in plan, while the upper, octagonal section stretches upward. The lower body, with pinnacles at the corners, was built in the mid-16th century, while the upper octagonal body and the present spire were not completed until 1758, almost two centuries later. It is topped by an iron cross forged in 1584 by Cristóbal Freislevaque. The church to which it belongs, a Mudéjar work built between the late 14th century and the 16th century, is one of Ricla's key heritage landmarks.
Activity
Fair of Ricla (Valdejalón, Zaragoza) devoted to cherries and fresh garlic, produce from the municipality's market gardens. Cherries, in all their varieties, make up Ricla's most important agricultural campaign and one of the most significant productions in Aragón and in Spain.
Monument
Hermitage in the municipal district of Ricla, a town reconquered by Alfonso I in 1120, where the Order of the Temple held a commandery until 1289, with a Christian quarter and a Moorish quarter separated by a wall. Here in 1898 the bullfighter Braulio Lausín, known as Gitanillo de Ricla, was born.
Monument
The mill of Ricla stands beside the Jalón, in a town with a rock-set castle turned into a palace, whose rammed-earth walls can still be seen on the calle de la Cruz, and which holds the Feria de la Cereza y el Ajo Tierno every year.
Activity
Ricla's winter festival is held in the birthplace of the bullfighter Braulio Lausín, Gitanillo de Ricla, born in 1898, and of the composer Genaro Monreal, author of zarzuela and jota pieces.
Curiosity
Route around the Mudéjar towers of Valdejalón: Ricla, La Almunia, Salillas de Jalón and Lumpiaque.
Historical milestone
Alfonso I reconquered Ricla in 1120 and at the end of the twelfth century the Order of the Temple established a commandery there which it maintained until 1289. The villa was divided into a Christian quarter and a Moorish quarter, separated by a wall with gates.
Historical milestone
The bullfighter Braulio Lausín, known as Gitanillo de Ricla, was born in the villa in 1898 and was one of the Aragonese figures of the bullfighting of his time. He died in 1967. Ricla also gave the composer Genaro Monreal, author of numerous pieces of zarzuela and jota.