Village
Calasparra is a municipality in the Región de Murcia, in the Noroeste comarca, situated on the foothills of the sierra del Molino, at the foot of which lies the rice-growing vega that gives it its fame, irrigated by the río Segura and its tributary the Argos. It has around 10,400 inhabitants. It is famous for its rice, especially the bomba variety, grown since the 18th century and protected, since 1986, by a designation of origin it shares only with the Ebro delta and Valencia; this variety requires more water and cooking time, so the grain swells more and absorbs flavours better. Its municipal area is also home to the Cañón de Almadenes, where the Segura cuts through the sierra del Molino, and the Cueva de los Monigotes, with cave paintings declared a World Heritage Site.
Curiosity
Calasparra rice, grown in the river plain since the 17th century, was awarded in 1986 the first Denominación de Origen for rice recognised in Spain.
Monument
The santuario de la Virgen de la Esperanza stands 6 kilometres from Calasparra, in a grotto carved into the rock facing the río Segura, and houses the two images of the town's patron saint: la Pequeñica, from the 16th century, and la Mayor or Grande, from the 17th. Tradition has it that a shepherd found la Pequeñica in the cave and that, as it proved impossible to move her to the village, it was decided to venerate her right there; the earliest records of the sanctuary date from the 17th century and in 1746 the Virgin was declared patron saint of the town. The current architecture, of mountain stone and neo-Gothic style, was built between 1948 and 1968. It offers views over the rice fields from the nearby Mirador de las Lomas, declared in 1999 a Lugar de Interés Geológico together with the river terrace.
Nature
Natural cavity located in the Sierra del Puerto-Cabeza del Asno, on the slope of the monte de Chatres, nine kilometres from Calasparra, in the northwest of the Region of Murcia. With about 4.4 kilometres of surveyed galleries and a drop of 114 metres, it is the region's most extensive horizontal cave; the stretch enabled for visits, more than 700 metres long with a drop of about 50 metres, shows stalactites, stalagmites, columns and other formations such as jellyfish, organs or eccentrics. It formed in limestone and dolomitic materials of the Upper Cretaceous, and the valley's inhabitants had known it for at least five generations because of its connection to the aquifer and the manantial del Borbotón.
Activity
The fiestas de la Virgen de la Esperanza of Calasparra are held in the first week of September and combine religious acts with a bullfighting fair, verbenas and concerts. Between 7 and 8 September the night-time pilgrimage to the santuario de la Esperanza takes place, while the encierros, inspired by the sanfermines and established in 1999, run about 900 metres from the plaza de la Constitución to the plaza de toros La Caverina; they are declared of Regional Tourist Interest for their popularity. The festivities close with the awarding of the Espiga de Oro, a prize of growing prestige sponsored by the town council.
Monument
A hermitage at the top of a path above Calasparra, whose gate is opened only on the day of the San Miguel pilgrimage festival.
Monument
The church of San Pedro Apóstol is the parish church of the historic centre of Calasparra, one of the main ones in the town; it was built by the knights of the Order of San Juan, whose prioral seat it housed, and the first documents about it date back to 1414, with works continuing between the fifteenth and nineteenth centuries. It was sacked by the troops of Marshal Soult in 1812 and rebuilt in 1820, and it burned down again on 25 February 1936. It has a three-nave plan covered by a barrel vault; it retains a main altarpiece from a nineteenth-century historicist reconstruction, Baroque and Rococo pieces by the sculptor José Dies (1945), and a seated image of San Pedro, from the late sixteenth century and of Italianate workmanship.
Monument
A church founded in 1625 in the historic centre of Calasparra, whose rear door, the Puerta de la Esperanza, gives its name to one of the best-known corners of the town.
Monument
Former administrative building in the historic centre of Calasparra linked to the Order of San Juan, which held the lordship of the municipality. It was built between 1730 and 1731 as the granary of the commandery, the work of the master builder Diego Gutiérrez, on the site of a former inn; its façade is austere, in brick, with round arches on the ground floor and a wooden roof on the upper floor. Declared a Monumento Nacional (a former top-level Spanish heritage protection category), it has housed the Museo Arqueológico Municipal since 2006, with Argaric, Roman and Hispano-Muslim ceramic pieces from the Villa-Vieja site; it used to be connected to the palace of the Encomienda, demolished in 2008.
Nature
Archaeological site located in the municipality of Calasparra, one of the testimonies of the historical occupation of the area around the river Segura. It has yielded remains of the Argaric and Roman cultures, as well as Hispano-Muslim ceramics, now kept at the Museo Arqueológico Municipal, housed in the building of the Pósito de la Encomienda and opened to the public on 16 November 2006.
Nature
The Cañaverosa Nature Reserve, at the confluence of the rivers Segura and Mundo and within the first kilometres of the Segura's course through the Region of Murcia, is the region's only terrestrial nature reserve and covers about 250 hectares designated under Law 4/1992. It preserves a riverside forest of elms, black poplars, ash trees, hackberries, white poplars, willows and reed beds, crossed by signposted paths, and is home to species such as the otter, the grey heron, the Spanish pond turtle, the white-throated dipper and the kingfisher. A forest fire destroyed much of the woodland in 1994, from which it has recovered remarkably in the following decades.
Nature
A geological site in Calasparra of volcanic origin, of interest for walking and for taking in the landscape around the Segura.
Nature
The viewpoints of the Lomas de la Virgen mark the way up to the sanctuary of the Virgen de la Esperanza, patron saint of Calasparra, located in a spot next to caves above the river Segura six kilometres from the town; the original hermitage, from the seventeenth century, occupied one of these caves. From the viewpoints one can see the rice fields of Calasparra, a product with a designation of origin recognised in 1986 that also extends across the municipalities of Moratalla and Hellín.
Monument
An ensemble in the historic centre of Calasparra made up of a 2007 fountain dedicated to the rice growers of the municipality and the rear door of the church of La Merced, dedicated to the patron saint.
Activity
A popular pilgrimage festival to the hermitage of San Miguel, at the top of a path above Calasparra, for which the gate of the church is exceptionally opened.
Historical milestone
Sancho IV handed over in 1289 by deed of donation the town and its castle to the Order of Saint John of Jerusalem, which kept it as a commandery for almost six centuries and organized the settlement of the upper Segura from this frontier stronghold.
Historical milestone
A decree of the Cortes put an end in 1873 to the municipality's belonging to the Order of Saint John of Jerusalem, closing almost six hundred years of a military order's lordship over the town and its rice-growing plain.
Food and drink
Dry-farmed rice cooked with rabbit and with guíscanos, the local name for the saffron milk caps gathered in the pine woods of the district after the autumn rains; it is one of the many rice dishes of the Calasparra repertoire.