Villanueva Del Fresno - Architecture and Attractions

Architecture and Attractions

Only ruins remain of the fortress which once gave the town its strategic significance. The area between the surviving walls has been converted into an open-air amphitheater. This particular fortress was built in the fifteenth century with a powerful walled perimeter and keep with high fixed towers, but was destroyed two centuries later.

The 17th-century town has many traditional, sun-bleached two-story houses, especially on the streets Hilario Lopez, Nueva, San Juanito, Portocarrero, San Gínes and Holy Spirit (Pablo Iglesias). Some façades are ornamented by trellises, portals and balconies that give an air very peculiar to the locality. The Plaza de España is the town's traditional center, with the town council's historic building and the parish church (Our Lady of the Conception replacing Nuestra Senora de las Estrellas) comprising two sides. The plaza is noteworthy both for its large size and openness. Other historic sites include the Pilar del Conde and de la Mora, three hermitages (San Antonio, San Gínes de la Jara and Cristo de la Expiracion), aqueduct remains near the former convent of Nuestra Senora de la Luz and a restored medieval fortress in and a 17th-century bridge en route to nearby Alconchel.

Within its municipal area is the farm "High and Low Goat" of 2,688 hectares that the Board of Extremadura expropriated in 1990 from the Duchess of Alba and delivered to commoners from the nearby town of Zahínos.

The area also has natural features which have become tourist attractions for hikers, hunters and fisherman. Nearby wildlife areas include the Rio Alcarrache biodiversity corridor (with eagle owls, black storks and wildcats among the rare protected species) and the Sierra de Jerez bird protection area (very important overwintering area for storks and other norther European species). Two large hydroelectric dams have been built in the area, with reservoirs at Cunco and Aquelva (in Portugal). Fishing is permitted in the reservoirs, and observation areas have also been constructed.