The municipal territory of Campillos stretches over a region of broad plains, which is only interrupted by a few low hills that provide topographic relief to the landscape, and also in a way mark its boundaries.

They do not rise to great heights-Barrancos, the highest hill, has an elevation of 663 metres-but they do lend a certain variety and some points of reference to the surroundings.
These lands, then, are very suitable for raising grain and olives, and these crops in fact do occupy most of the municipality except for the hilly zone, where low brush and scrub grow.
In the southern part of the municipality, the scenery is enriched by the Guadalteba and Guadalhorce reservoirs, under whose waters lies the now extinct village of Peñarrubia. This collection of reservoirs, which extends into adjoining municipalities, gives to this territory a very different perspective from what is usual for dry land farming districts.
A protected area of 1,946 hectares near the village centre consists of a collection of shallow lakes (Dulce, Salada, Capacete, Camuñas, etc). Although these wetlands are dry for many months of the year, they have been designated a Reserva Natural (Nature Reserve) by the Environmental Agency of the Assembly of Andalusia due to their high ecological value.

Campillos’ favourable location as a middle point between Eastern and Western Andalusia, between the Mediterranean and the Guadalquivir, and equally distant from towns of the historical importance of Ronda, Antequera and Osuna (province of Seville), has encouraged the passage of people and goods over these lands since very ancient times. Thus, judging from remains found in different places in the region (Castillones, Capacete, Capitán, Moraleja, La Mezquita, Aljibejo and Romeroso, among other sites), human settlements have followed one after the other practically without interruption since the Neolithic age.
Especially large numbers of Roman coins have been found, belonging to the ages of Octavius, Claudius, Trajan and Constantine, showing the existence of a number of settlements that must have been destroyed by the Germanic invasions.

Despite all these antecedents, however, the first note we have of the origin of present day Campillos is that in 1492, under the repopulation policy of the Catholic Monarchs, the village was founded by people who had come from Teba and Osuna.
Not long afterward, in the second half of the sixteenth century, the population had increased to the point that it was necessary to extend the urban nucleus. This time it was done in a more orderly manner, that is to say by laying out the new streets in straight lines. The population of Campillos came to exceed that of Teba, to which it was legally subordinate, and in 1680, it was granted the privileged status of royal burgh.
Recently, in 1975, the territory that until then had belonged to the municipality of Peñarrubia, the village that disappeared beneath the waters of the Guadalteba reservoir, was incorporated into the municipality of Campillos.

Outstandings Visits:
The Nuestra Señora del Reposo church is the most noticeable monument in this village. It was built in the early sixteenth century (1506) and modified in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries. Its magnificent baroque façade is considered one of the most interesting and showy of the entire Antequera region. The interior is divided into three naves, with exuberantly decorated chapels. The main altar is remarkable. It is made of pine, with eight Ionic columns, and is overlooked by the statue of the Virgen del Reposo (Virgin of Repose), a notable figure by the seventeenth century Granadino School. The clock in the bell tower was made in 1631 by the Carmelite Friar Miguel del Santísimo Sacramento of Antequera.
The San Benito hermitage, built in the seventeenth century and modified in the eighteenth, the eighteenth century Nuestra Señora de Belén hermitage, that of Santa Ana (sixteenth century) and of San Sebastián (seventeenth century), the last of which was financed by the local livestock producers, complete the historic and artistic itinerary of Campillos.
People who are interested in archaeology can make a visit to the sites of Capacete (a Roman villa and bathhouses), Castillón de Gobantes (from the Roman epoch), Cortijo La Cuesta (a Roman necropolis) and Los Castillones, where there are ruins of a Roman town.

 

 

How to Get There:
Leaving from the city of Málaga, capital of the Costa del Sol, take the A-357, which leads straight to Campillos without the necessity of a single change. If you come from Antequera or from some other point in that region, you only have to take the A-92 and then connect with the A-384. The first village this latter road passes through is Campillos.

Interesting Facts:
Surface Area: 187.8 square kilometres
Population: about 8,000
What the natives are called: Campilleros
Monuments: the Nuestra Señora del Reposo church, the hermitages of San Benito, Nuestra Señora de Belén, and Santa Ana, and the Roman archaeological sites of Capacete, Castillón de Gobantes, Cortijo La Cuesta and Los Castillos
Geographical Location: in the western part of the Antequera region, 30 kilometres from that town and 70 from the provincial capital. The village centre sits 500 metres above sea level. The average rainfall is 510 litres per square metre and the annual average temperature is 15º C.
Tourist Information: Town Hall, Avenida Santa María del Reposo, 7 (29320). Telephone: 952 722 168; Fax: 952 723 105