Villanueva del Rosario

Interesting Facts of Villanueva del Rosario

Surface Area: 43.6 square kilometres

Population: 3,613

What the natives are called: Saucedeños

Outstanding Sights: Nuestra Señora del Rosario hermitage, Visigothic necropolises, Bronze Age archaeological sites, and Llano del Hondonero natural area

Geographical Location: in the Antequera region. This municipality is one of those comprising the sub-region called Nororma (acronym in Spanish for Northeast Málaga). The village is 700 metres above sea level and is 40 kilometres from Málaga and 27 from Antequera. The area’s average precipitation is 725 litres per square metre and the average annual temperature is about 14º C.
 

The first stretch of the River Guadalhorce crosses the municipality of Villanueva del Rosario from east to west. Despite receiving the waters of the Cerezo and Parroso streams, in this area it is in both volume and width a mere brook compared to the river it widens into just kilometres downstream and that fertilises the broad lowland that bears its name.

Although the Guadalhorce is a geographic feature that certainly defines the scenic character of this territory, the municipal terrain is framed by the El Jobo and Camarolos mountains. They not only hold sites of unexpected beauty but also have the highest elevation in the region at El Chamizo (1,641 metres). The peaks of Alto de Hondonero (1,420 metres) and El Pelao (1,387 metres) are also remarkable for their altitude and great scenic beauty.

The imposing mountain front that can be seen from the village and practically any other point in the municipality greatly enriches an area that is diverse and attractive in its own right. Depending on the altitude one finds pines, live oaks, gall oaks, black poplars, ashes and broad expanses of olive trees. There are also numerous farmsteads and second homes, generally built in keeping with the local architectural tradition, that lend touches of white to the banks of the Guadalhorce and especially to the countless hills and knolls within the boundaries of this municipality, where nature has not stinted her resources.

Since this municipality is one of the natural passes between the coast and the interior of Andalusia it was settled very early. Archaeological sites from the Paleolithic, Neolithic, Calcolithic and Bronze Ages have been discovered here. The oldest of all the sites is at Llanos de Salinas, more precisely at El Ventorro del Cojo, and belongs to the Lower Paleolithic period. There are traces of cave paintings in the El Malnombre cave in the Camarolos mountains.

The Romans had a very strong presence in this municipality but no large construction areas from that period have been found. A few historians state that the city of Ulisi was at Peñón de Solís, but the most recognisable site from the Roman period is the ruins of some old bathhouses at the place called La Tosquilla, where there were springs with curative properties. Roman coins and ceramics are still often found in this area but these relics don’t always fall into the right hands despite the fact that there are interesting collections of Roman artefacts from this district.

The Visigoths also were not strangers to this area, as is shown by several Visigothic necropolises (Calerilla, Repiso, Rabia, Picacho). Ceramics, rings and buckles have been found in them, among other artefacts. Beginning with this period the territory seems to have become uninhabited, as there is not even any documentation from the period of Arabic rule. Apparently for several centuries, the present territory of Villanueva del Rosario was not home to any group of people, and the area thus became a vast forest.

Some researchers state that it was in the eighteenth century that the village called Puebla del Saucedo, which was the origin of the present village, began to take shape. When the Upper Guadalhorce began to be repopulated in the late eighteenth century "El Saucedo"-as it is still called by many villagers –was under the jurisdiction of Archidona and remained so until it was separated and its own municipal government was formed and it began to be called Villanueva del Rosario. The procedure freeing Villanueva del Rosario from the jurisdiction of Archidona, which was completed in 1827, was not easy and gave rise to heated litigation between the two communities.