Cazalilla

Nature

Cazalilla is located in the high Jienese countryside and fully participates in the characteristics of this region: areas flattened with very soft slopes in which the main cultivation is the olive grove, even in the area of the vegas and irrigation.

Near the population centre is the Contón de la Virgen de la Cruz, recreational area located on an old landfill recovered as a green area and crossing through a bridge the first of the previous streams. Linked to these watercourses we find a typical vegetation of riverside, in which they stand out reels, carrizos, canes, calves, and eucalyptus, alms, olmos and weeping willows.

Other leisure areas for the population and visitors to Cazalilla are the Pilar de la Dehesa Parka place of leisure and rest that has areas of shade with barbecues, water fountains and tables, in one of the livestock caches that cross the countryside, and the Old Pilar, recreational area equipped with meringers and good views of the countryside.

The Cerro de la Coronillalocated in the cortijo of the Atalaya, where the first major settlement of Cazalilla has been identified, configured thanks to its height as an integral element of a strategic defensive system of the area in the Copper Age.

Parties and Events

On 3 February the Festivity of San Blas, much loved by the neighbors not only of Cazalilla, but also of the neighbouring villages, such as Escaluy, Villanueva de la Reina and Mengibar. The traidional blessing of the Saint's donuts culminates with the long-term preservation by mothers of these "blessed by the saint" bread donuts, which are meals to bits by children as an effective remedy when they are affected by a coughing. The colour tapes that the saint has held in his hand are also used, so that once placed in the neck they will serve to cure and prevent throat conditions.

Another holiday that the hunters celebrate is the one that takes place on the third of May, dedicated to the Marian advocation of the Virgin of the Cross, and in which there is the custom to go in Romeria to a place located on the road of Villanueva de la Reina called the Charcón.

There are also two other significant festivities in Cazalilla: Candelariathe traditional prelude of San Blas, where there was the tradition of taking children under the age of one to present them in the church, in clear accordance with the religious feast of the presentation of Jesus Child in the Temple, and the Corpus Christiwhere balconies and windows are covered and the streets are carpeted with junction.

Gastronomy

In the summer of 1965, within Plan Jaén, the population of the nearby town of Espelúy with settlers from the Sierra de Segura was expanded. This has meant that the "kitchen of the countryside"is mixed with the"serrana cuisine. "Among the most traditional dishes, we highlight:

• "The Pipirrana, "this typical dish of the Jienese countryside, but which here has a thicker consistency, we would say that more related to the Cordobese salmoire.
• "Asparagus"a typical spring dish that is presented as a sauce, hence the name of the dish.
• "Migas of bread with melon"using the last melons of the summer.
• Potting with muffinsThe well-known potage of chickpeas with Holy Week cod is added to the heart or spinach.

From the serrana kitchen, these other dishes would come:

• "Gazpacho of reapers"and thejopringue"food from the massacres.
• "Rings with hare"and theGalians. "

In the time of the olive collection, the "bread singing with oil"accompanied by bacon or cod.

In the pastry shop the "milk rosses, "thePestives"and theflaminquins. "

History

In its term the human presence from the Copper Age is documented, both by the ceramics collected in its urban centre and by the settlement of Cerro de la Coronilla, in the Cortijo de la Atalaya. Around the second millennium this centre was abandoned and reoccupied in the late 6th century a. C. in the oldest stage of Iberian culture. In Roman times there was a dispersed population, probably villae, one of them located on the current site of Cazalilla.

In the Arab era it was one of the iqlims in which the Cora de Jaén was divided, from which a tombstone with the epitaph of a certain man was found in the town. Ahmad b. Mauro or Mawruwhich died in 885, although the researchers are of the opinion that the town would already exist in the Visigode era, because that name is of Latin root, which could indicate that it was a muladi (Christian converted to Islam).

In the reconquest the name of Caztalliella appears in the delimitation of terms between Jaén and Martos. In the Synod of 1311, it appears as one of the parishes of the Jaen artebrittle.

In the second half of the S.XV, during the war between the nobility and King Henry IV, Cazalilla is named on several occasions in relation to his castle. One of the most significant facts was that of December 23, 1471, when Fernando de Acuña, the son of the Count of Buendía, was shot by the castle's mayor, Diego de Frías, and handed him over to the Constable Iranzo. The castle only remains the drawing made by Ximena Jurado in the 17th century. This was not the only defensive bastion that existed in Cazalilla, as in the municipality is also located Torre de María Martínwhich was part of the set of surveillance and control fortifications of the territory.

In the Modern Age the town follows the guidelines of the rest of the province, with socio-economic recovery in the XVI and depression in the XVII and XVIII. In the 17th century, he changes to the village, and the town of Jaén is segregated.