Fuente de Piedra is situated on a practically flat area, surrounded by the Sierras de Mollina mountain range, whose highest peaks reach to almost 800 metres.
The highest point within the municipality of Fuente de Piedra is the Conejas, at 500 metres. The well-known lake at Fuente de Piedra is in the municipality, one of the biggest tourist attractions in the area and a place of very important ecological value. The first settlements here date back a long way, to the 5th century B.C., although the first written reference to the place dates from Roman times. This is written in Latin, its translation being: "Lucio Postumio Satulio, by the vote that he has by right, dedicates this altar stone of the divine fountain." The reference is to the water with its curative powers, and which gives the name to the town, in that those who drink it will be cured of their "mal de la piedra", illness of the stone, meaning gall stones.

After the Moorish domination, the town was abandoned in 1461, reconstructed once more in 1547. Then followed its period of maximum splendour, with the water being exported as far as the Kingdom of Naples and America. A series of epidemics in the 18th and early 19th centuries decimated the population of the town, and the fountain had to be lifted and brought to another site. It was believed that this caused the water to lose its curative properties, and the fountain was abandoned, to be finally covered over in 1959. In 1990 it was excavated into existence again and restored in 1994, where it can now be seen in the Plaza de la Constitución. The history of the town itself has always been closely linked with the history of the salt lake, the Laguna Salada. This was worked for the extraction of salt from Roman times until 1951. The lake was named a National Hunting Refuge in 1981, and at present is a national reserve that has a large colony of flamingoes that breed there.

Places to be visited:
Laguna de Fuente de Piedra (The Lake).
Flora and Fauna of the lake.

 

Tourist information:

Town Hall, C/Ancha, 9. 29520.
Phone: 952 735 016 Fax: 952 735 317