Village
Municipality of the comarca of La Sagra, in the province of Toledo, bound to the figure of Miguel de Cervantes, who married Catalina de Salazar y Palacios in its church of Nuestra Señora de la Asunción on 12 December 1584 and lived here until 1587; it preserves the writer's house museum and the ancestral home of his wife's family, and the vineyard, with fermentation caves dug out beneath the old town, is the crop that sets it apart within a cereal-growing comarca.
Monument
The so-called Casa de Cervantes de Esquivias is a 16th-century mansion that belonged to the Quijada de Salazar family and retains the characteristic features of the manor houses of well-to-do farmers of the period, being the second house of that lineage's entailed estate. A 1971 decree declared it a Monumento Histórico-Artístico (a former Spanish heritage-protection designation) as the home of the author of Don Quixote during the nearly twenty years that, according to documented tradition, he lived in the town after his marriage. Cervantes scholars, however, agree that it was not the house where Cervantes lived nor one that he ever visited. Now turned into a museum, the house recalls those years the writer spent in Esquivias, although the link between the building itself and his person is, according to specialists, more tradition than historical certainty.
Monument
The town's parish church, where on 12 December 1584 Miguel de Cervantes married Catalina de Salazar y Palacios.
Monument
The Casa de Catalina Palacios, also called the Casa de Cervantes, is a manor house in Esquivias (Toledo) that belonged to the Quixada de Salazar family, that of Catalina de Salazar y Palacios, wife of Miguel de Cervantes. According to Cervantes scholars it was not the home of Cervantes himself, although documented tradition regards it as his residence for almost twenty years. The building, dating from the 11th century, retains a main courtyard, presses and underground cellars, timber-beamed ceilings with brick vaulting, panelled doors and ornamental grilles, and a quintal press among the 36 cellars recorded in 1584. Declared a Monumento Histórico-Artístico (a former Spanish heritage-protection designation) in 1971, it was restored as a Cervantes museum, open since 1994, and forms part of Esquivias's Cervantes trail.
Monument
A hermitage in the town centre of Esquivias dedicated to San Roque, one of the small devotional churches preserved in the town. It was built outside the walls of the old settlement of Esquivias, next to the orchard of the second house of the Quijada entailed estate and bordering the road to Illescas. The Bishop of Lipari, Don Juan Mendoza, consecrated it on 26 November 1602, leaving it blessed and privileged as a refuge for those who sought sanctuary there. The residents of the nearby houses decorated the streets for the occasion, among them Miguel de Cervantes and his wife Catalina de Salazar, who were residents of Esquivias at that time.
Monument
Jurisdictional pillar, or pillory, symbolising the town's own jurisdiction. Esquivias obtained the title of royal town in 1768.
Monument
Historic public fountain in Esquivias bearing the name of the monarch in whose reign it was built, close to the town hall of 1798.
Curiosity
Miguel de Cervantes married in Esquivias on 12 December 1584 to Catalina de Salazar y Palacios, a local woman, and lived in the town until May 1587.
Curiosity
During the Revolt of the Comuneros of Castile, in 1521, Esquivias was the last town to surrender to the troops of Charles V, a resistance that earned its inhabitants a reputation as hardy and courageous people.
Activity
The Fiestas de la Virgen de la Leche are the patronal festival of Esquivias, in the comarca of La Sagra (Toledo), held from 17 to 23 August. During that week the programme combines religious events in honour of the patroness with verbenas and popular festivities throughout the municipality.
Activity
Esquivias celebrates the pilgrimage of Santa Bárbara on the 4th of December, along with its patronal festivities of the Virgen de la Leche from the 17th to the 23rd of August.
Food and drink
The vineyard is the crop that sets Esquivias apart within a cereal-growing comarca, and its wines appear praised in the literature of the Golden Age. Beneath the old town, fermentation caves cut into the rock are preserved.