Village
Municipality of the comarca of La Alcarria Conquense, in the province of Cuenca, granted in lordship to Alonso Ruiz Carrillo by Ferdinand IV in 1298, raised to city by John II in 1440 and made the head of a county in 1465, when Henry IV granted the title to Diego Hurtado de Mendoza and the town entered the orbit of the Mendoza family. It preserves the convent of El Rosal, a Franciscan foundation raised in 1525 beside the river valley and to which the legend of the rose bush that never withers is attached, and that of San Miguel de las Victorias, built between 1772 and 1777 on a raised spot above the village.
Monument
The Convent of San Miguel de las Victorias was built between 1772 and 1777 on a raised site above Priego, on the location of an earlier Discalced Franciscan convent, founded in 1577 by Fernando Carrillo de Mendoza after making a vow for having survived the Battle of Lepanto, and rebuilt after a rockfall. Its church, in Baroque style, is characterised by the frescoes decorating the vault and dome, and houses a chapel with the Cristo de la Caridad, a work by the sculptor José Salvador Carmona. Today it hosts children's summer camps, while the church and chapel remain open to visitors. It is one of the three historic convents of the town, together with that of El Rosal, from 1525.
Monument
The church of San Nicolás de Bari, in Priego (Cuenca), dates in its construction to the 16th century, around 1540, in which the master builder Pedro de Alviz appears to have been involved. The building suffered a serious fire in December 1839, during the First Carlist War, and was repaired by the townspeople themselves in the following years. In the 19th century it was said to have kept a flag regarded as a relic of the Battle of Lepanto. The church is also described in the entry devoted to Priego in Pascual Madoz's Diccionario geográfico-estadístico-histórico de España.
Monument
The Torre de Despeñaperros is the only vestige still standing of the old Arab fortress of Priego (La Alcarria Conquense, Cuenca), which overlooks the village. Prismatic in plan and now quite deteriorated, it was part of a defensive complex of three towers joined by a wall, of which only fragments of a second one survive. It greets those arriving in the village from Cuenca and Madrid, opposite the Luis Ocaña park. At its base opens the Cueva de la Mora, linked to a 13th-century legend about a Muslim princess turned into a serpent.
Monument
The Town Hall of Priego (Cuenca) is a 16th-century building in Renaissance style, whose construction was ordered in 1553 by Fernando Carrillo de Mendoza as a count's palace; today it is the municipal seat, on the Plaza de los Condes de Priego. Its façade, of sober and elegant decoration, features windows with flat segmental arches and classical pediments with inscriptions, and among the main openings shine the coats of arms of the Carrillo and Mendoza families.
Nature
A narrow limestone gorge carved out by the river, a refuge for golden eagle and Egyptian vulture. It is the most spectacular natural feature of the municipality.
Nature
The municipal area is crossed by the Trabaque, Guadiela and Escabas rivers, among sierras such as the Rodenal and the Valseco, also known as La Degollá, which rise above 1,200 metres. The Escabas descends from the El Hosquillo nature park and makes its way toward the Alcarria through the Estrecho de Priego, a gorge with high limestone walls; eight kilometres downstream it joins the Trabaque, and shortly after both flow into the Guadiela at the spot known as Las Juntas. The floodplain retains gallery forest with poplar groves, while pine woods and holm oak groves dominate the sierras, inhabited by deer, roe deer, wild boar, foxes and badgers, as well as griffon vultures and Bonelli's eagles in the Estrecho itself.
Curiosity
Wicker basketry and pottery are the traditional crafts of Priego and still complement the town's tourism economy today, to the point of being considered a mark of local identity. A few pottery workshops still survive, where clay can be seen worked using time-honoured techniques.
Curiosity
Juan II granted Priego the title of city in 1440. Its lordship belonged to the Carrillo family from 1298, and in 1465 the county was created in the Carrillo de Mendoza branch.
Activity
The via ferrata of Priego is accessed from the bridge over the Escabas river that links Priego with Cañamares, in the Alcarria of Cuenca. It was completed in mid-2016, promoted by the Diputación de Cuenca to encourage adventure tourism in the area, at a cost of 46,000 euros; its opening was delayed that year by the nesting of a Bonelli's eagle nearby. It has two routes: the Estrecho de Priego, suitable for families with children from 1.20 m in height and of K3 difficulty, and Las Buitreras, of K4 difficulty; the same area also has several sport-climbing routes. The site, a gorge with high limestone walls opened by the Escabas, is home to an important colony of griffon vultures.
Historical milestone
Fernando IV handed Priego in seigneury to Alonso Ruiz Carrillo in 1298. The family governed the villa for a century and a half and left its mark on the town hall palace and on the religious foundations that still punctuate the old town.
Historical milestone
The county of Priego, a noble title referring to the Castilian-La Mancha municipality of Priego, in the province of Cuenca, was created by Henry IV on 6 November 1465 in favour of Diego Hurtado de Mendoza, married to Teresa Carrillo, sixth and last lady of the estate of Priego, a lordship that since 1298 had belonged to the Carrillo family by privilege of Ferdinand IV. The union brought the two houses together and placed the town within the orbit of the Mendoza family, the most powerful lineage in this part of Castile; the title has carried the rank of Grandee of Spain since 1715.
Historical milestone
Franciscan foundation raised in 1525 on the outskirts of Priego, beside the river valley. From it comes the legend of the rose bush that never withers, which gave it its name. The building preserves the memory of the community that occupied it until the nineteenth century.
Food and drink
Paste of flaked cod pounded with boiled potato, garlic, olive oil and sometimes walnuts or egg, until an unctuous cream binds. It was the food of muleteers and of days of abstinence and is eaten cold, accompanied by bread.