Arguisuelas

A village of plateau and pine forest

Arguisuelas lies in the Serranía Baja, about 50 km from Cuenca, within the Valle del Cabriel Biosphere Reserve. It is a village of high plateau and pine forest.

What trades and memory tell

In the La Veguilla area there was a Roman cemetery. In 1867 a brick tomb, iron coffin nails and a broken funerary slab were described there. A votive inscription to Jupiter and a funerary block that may have belonged to a mausoleum, from the early 1st century AD, also came from there; another funerary piece is kept in a village house. All lie in the territory of Valeria, the Roman city that organised this part of the province: Rome and lapis specularis.

Festivities and food

The patron saint is San Lorenzo, with a procession on 10 August, and the Virgen del Rosario is celebrated on 5 October. On 10 May people from Arguisuelas carry the Niño de la Bola in procession in Carboneras de Guadazaón, from the church to the convent of the Marquises of Moya. Food includes caldereta (meat stew), ajo arriero and morteruelo, and during the mayos, May songs, people drink zurra.

What Madoz recorded

In 1845, besides farmers and stockbreeders, Arguisuelas had three linen weavers, a spindle maker, two tailors and a shoemaker. The town council, with a budget of 5,500 reales, was funded by income from an oven and municipal lands.

Plan your visit

Arguisuelas is a quiet stopping place.

Before you travel

La Veguilla is an archaeological area unprepared for visitors: ask the town council and do not collect anything from the ground.

Combine with

Monteagudo de las Salinas and Carboneras de Guadazaón are about 7.5 km away as the crow flies.