Alía

The urban layout changes substantially from one neighborhood to another. The most widespread is characteristic of the peoples who have had much influence from the Arab culture.

The few straight streets are the most modern ones, almost all of them tend to twist without apparent order until they become real labyrinths.

It is difficult to determine the original nucleus, the primitive neighborhood on which the population has grown, but it seems to be the one formed between Calle Real, Plaza de España and the Church, where tradition attributes to the tower a defensive function within the enclosure that enveloped the old town.

The roads that cross the town are the ones that have been serving as branches on which to grow. The importance that each one has had over time determines the model that has been followed at the time of planning the urban development that has taken place in each moment.

The Camino Real that passed through the street of the same name splits the town in two until it crosses the road that comes from Talavera to Puerto Llano in an east-west direction.

To the south of the latter is a tangled group of houses around the hermitage of the Passion. Formerly there were four other chapels: San Sebastián, San Juan, San Bartolomé and La Concepción.

The village has the typical stamp of the white villages of Andalusia. A uniformity that is not repeated either among its northern neighbors and links more with those south of the Guadiana. The house is built on one floor, the second floor is rarely used as a dwelling and is normally the ideal place to store farm products and tools. Some houses have strong brick vaults although timber framing for the roof is more common.

Both the design and the decoration are far from homogeneous. Especially in houses that abandon white to recreate artistic sgraffito. They rarely have arcades, only in the square and in some isolated houses.

Interior patios are another of Alía’s characteristics. Sometimes private and sometimes shared between several houses. Common to all of them is the variety of flowers and the beauty of an environment carefully tended by their owners or neighbors.

They are a unique opportunity to get to know the most characteristic flowers of the Extremadura tradition.