Fuente de Piedra

Interesting Facts of Fuente de Piedra 

Surface Area: 90.1 square kilometres

Population: 2,582

What the natives are called: Villafontenses

Geographical Location: in the north-western part of the Antequera region, 19 kilometres from that city and 73 from the provincial capital. The village sits at an altitude of 443 metros. It records an average annual rainfall of about 500 litres per square metre and the average temperature is 15.5º C.
 

The municipality of Fuente de Piedra, in the northern part of the Antequera region and bordering on the province of Seville, spreads across a broad plain from which protrude the peaks of the Mollina and El Humilladero mountain ranges. Its landscape, although ideal for olives and grain, revolves around the famous shallow lake with the same name as the village, Fuente de Piedra. This is one of the largest wetlands in Spain (along with that of Gallocanta, in Zaragoza) and the first on the Iberian Peninsulato be a massive breeding ground for flamingos, making it of high ecological value.

The lake also must have been a kind of attraction for prehistoric human settlement in this area, judging by remains that have been discovered from the Upper Paleolithic period. Beginning at that time, these lands were continuously inhabited until the time of the Iberians, who established commercial contacts with Phoenicians and Carthaginians.

The lake was occupied, in about the second century BC, by the Romans, who named it Fons Divinus (Divine Fountain). This was no doubt in reference to the curative properties of its waters, especially for the "stone disorder" (kidney stones). That is probably the origin of the name of the village, Fuente de Piedra (Stone Fountain). The many archaeological sites that have been found from the Roman period indicate the importance that the area must have had both in the Early and Late Empires.

In the mid-fifteenth century, to be specific in 1461 after what is known as the Battle of El Madroño, Don Rodrigo Ponce de León entered these domains and drove out the Muslims, with the result that the place was uninhabited until 1547, when the authorities in Antequera saw fit to create a sort of suburb to which people suffering from kidney disorders could be sent to seek relief from their maladies in the waters of the fountain.

The curative nature of these waters was responsible for a notable increase in commerce in the area, a commerce based on the export of the water, which was transported to the Kingdom of Naples and even to America. The sixteenth and seventeenth centuries were particularly prosperous because of the marketing of the waters and because of the many travellers who came to take them on site. A prolonged drought that helped spread epidemics, however, put an end to the economic boom, since the outbreak was attributed to the vapours of the fountain water, which was stagnant due to its total lack of current.

Outstanding Sights: Palace of the Marchioness of Fuente de Piedra, Nuestra Señora de las Virtudes parish church, Fuente de Piedra Lake, Málaga Virgen winery, Refugio del Burrito