The small municipal area of Arriate on the north and west, borders the River Guadalcobacín, a tributary of the Guadiaro that imparts a peaceful and leafy landscape to the lands closest to it.

he rest of the territory is used mainly for olive groves and grain fields, which share the space with fruit orchards and vegetable gardens. The Las Cumbres (911 metres) and Salinas (954 metres) mountain ranges, although outside the municipal boundaries, from their heights frame a zone that, due to its location entirely within the Ronda depression, is quite flat.
Several caves on either side of the River Guadalcobacín reveal the presence of man in this region during the Palaeolithic period. No cave paintings have been found in them, but rather some stone axes that prove the existence of human settlement in that age. This is understandable due to the nature of the surroundings, which have an abundance of water and gentle terrain, with forests and mountains that would have made both hunting and primitive man’s first agricultural activity easier.

 

 

Its proximity to two such important sites as Acinipo and Ronda leads one to think that Arriate was the stage for more than one interesting historical event, but there is no documentation of such. The first verified fact is the battle of Arriate in 1407, when the castle commandant of Cañete la Real left his fortress in the care of his son and came to the assistance of the nearby locality of Setenil, which was under threat from the Muslims. The Muslims took advantage of the occasion to attack Cañete, resulting in the death of the son of the commandant. As an act of revenge Hernando de Arias laid an ambush for the Arabic troops within the boundaries of Arriate.
It is obvious that this village has an Arabic origin. Even the name Arriate derives from Arriadh, meaning a space with fruit trees and flowers and which is an apparent reference to a farmstead that existed in the place. It was not until 1630, however, that the Arriateños were able to separate from Ronda, for which privilege they had to pay 352,739 reals.

 

Outstandings Visits:
There are some exceptions, but a large part of the artistic heritage of the small villages of Málaga is concentrated in their parish churches, and Arriate is a good example of this. The San Juan de Letrán church, with its bell tower, is the architectural gem of this locality. The scant information that exists about this church contrasts with a very specific bit of data about the Moorish carpentry work of its roof frame, which was built in 1629 by Francisco Hernández and Andrés Valverde.
The bell tower is a recent construction (1960), but despite that, it is the architectural feature most closely identified with the village. The political events of 1936 had terrible consequences for the church in Arriate, as it was attacked and suffered serious damage to its main altarpiece and to the organ. The statues that had been borne in the Holy Week processions, which were ancient and of recognized artistic value, suffered the same fate.

 

How to Get There:
To get to Arriate from the Costa del Sol you must take the old N-340 or the AP-7 expressway to San Pedro de Alcántara and there take the A-376, which leads to Ronda. There take MA-478 to Arriate.

 

 

 

Interesting Facts:
Surface Area: 8.3 square kilometres
Population: about 3,600
What the natives are called: Arriateños
Monuments: the San Juan de Letrán parish church
Geographical Location: in the Ronda highlands, 6 kilometres from that city and 120 from the city of Málaga. The village sits 600 metres above sea level. The average annual rainfall is 718 litres per square metre and the average temperature is 15.5º C.
Tourist Information: Town Hall, Calle Cordones, 4 (29350). Telephone: 952 165 096; Fax: 952 165 141