Villena Castle, or Atalaya Castle, is situated in the town of Villena and has a long history as well as being nicely restored. Correctly known as Castillo de la Atalaya or Castillo de Villena the names reflect the history of the castle from Arab border fort to Aragonese then Castillian castle before falling into ruin and being restored as a museum.
Visiting Villena Castle
The sat nav was sending us on a very convoluted route through the middle of Villena so we eventually ignored it and followed the tourist signs. These took us to a small car park next to the tourist information office (where you buy the tickets) and the castle was a few minutes walk from there. Our visit was as part of a longer trip in this region, detailed in my travel blog here.
My Experience
The forecast for Tuesday was apparently dry so we had arranged to visit a couple of nearby towns that, by a strange twist of fate, were both built around medieval castles. Originally the plan was to look at the local towns as options to buy somewhere but I didn’t see the point in that and we’d decided we’d either live in the same town as Mum or get somewhere on the coast.
The forecast lied and we headed off in heavy rain towards the town which was far more built up than we expected. There was actually a very pretty medieval core but this was swamped by tacky high rise flats surrounding it which was a surprise. We ignored the sat navs attempt to direct us through winding and narrow city streets and followed the glimpses of the castle keep until we parked a few minutes walk away.
The castle at Villena looked huge and had been fully restored so was excellent to walk around and also weatherproof! There was an excellent route to follow that took you around the curtain walls and then the inner bailey and keep, all with lots of information boards. The keep interior was quite excellent, the lower two levels were Moorish and then the two levels above were built after the Spanish conquest. There was some excellent art (I hesitate to call it graffiti!) done by captured Italian sailors on one of the walls.
The roof gave some impressive views, even if it did mean getting close to the edge and looking at the 30m drop! We then followed the route along the curtain wall again before going to the exit. From the roof we had looked over the medieval town and its two churches so we walked down the steps, past a couple of parks and into the town square. Deb found a tapas bar, El Arrabal, where we had a great lunch before walking back to the car. Obviously while we were inside the sun came out!
Villena Castle Photo Gallery
History
Atalaya Castle, locally known as Castillo de la Atalaya or Castillo de Villena, lies on a hill in the town of Villena, in the province of Alicante in Spain.
Atalaya Castle was first mentioned in 1172 in Arab sources. It is suspected to have been built by Muslims on the site of a former Roman fortification, although no evidence for that has been found.
In the early 13th century Atalaya Castle was an important stronghold on the northern frontier of the Emirate of Córdoba. It was besieged unsuccessfully 3 times by James I of Aragón. In 1239 the castle was finally taken for the Aragonese Crown by a force of Almogavars, Catalans and knights of the Order of Calatrava. In 1244 the castle was handed over to the Kingdom of Castile after the Treaty of Almizra.
Ferdinand III of Castile gave Atalaya Castle to the Order of Calatrava. In the early 1260’s, during Moorish uprisings, the castle fell into Muslim hands for a short time, until James I of Aragon ended the uprisings and returned it to the Castilian Crown. Ferdinand III then donated the castle to his son Manuel of Castile who became Lord of Villena. After his death his son, Juan Manuel, became Lord, Duke and lastly Prince of Villena. Juan was a writer and resided in the castle, producing much of his writings here.
In the second half of the 14th century the lordship of Villena was elevated to a march by Henry II of Castile.
In 1445 Atalaya Castle passed to the Pacheco family. In 1476 Diego López Pacheco was Marquess of Villena. He supported Joanna la Beltraneja in her claim to the throne of Castile against Isabella I of Castile. This caused a rebellion of the citizens of Villena who, with the support of the Isabella and her husband Ferdinand II of Aragón, then sacked the castle. After that the castle was no longer used as a residence by the marquesses and in 1480 the town and castle became property of the Castilian Crown.
During the Revolt of the Brotherhoods, between 1519 and 1523, the Viceroy of Valencia, Diego Hurtado de Mendoza took refuge in Atalaya Castle.
In the early 18th century, during the War of the Spanish Succession, 50 Bourbon loyalist troops sustained a siege of 8 days from Austrian troops.
Atalaya Castle was sacked by the French Marshal Louis-Gabriel Suchet in the early 19th century during the Peninsular War, after which it was abandoned and fell to ruin. It was restored several times and now houses a museum.
Atalaya Castle is a concentric castle with a nice keep showing several phases of its construction. The lower part is 12th century Muslim and built out of rammed earth. The upper part is 15th century Christian, ashlar masonry with the typical turrets.
At present Atalaya Castle can be visited for a fee. A very nice castle. Recommended.
References
The Villena tourist site has some lovely photos and opening information here.
The always excellent castles.nl has more detailed information (similar to the Wiki) here and I have copied it into the history section above.