This municipality’s territory lies in the southern Oreganal mountain range, from which it stretches into the River Genal valley, and on the east extends into the Parque Natural de la Sierra de las Nieves (Sierra de las Nieves Nature Park), the location of the Parauta Spanish fir forest.

It is a very varied territory, in which areas of rocks and sparse plant cover, alternate with others with abundant vegetation (chestnut trees, live oak groves, pine and olive trees). In addition, there is the area of exceptional ecological interest that is included in the Sierra de las Nieves.
According to some historians Parauta was formed by the joining of two villages, Parauta proper and Benahazín, which was located near Cartajima and for reasons that have not been explained added its territory to Parauta and ceased to exist as a village. Due to the scarcity of historical documentation about the village’s origin, everything about it is conjecture. Some of it has a solid base-such as the theory that the village was founded by the Arabs, which is hardly open to question when one looks at the street plan of the locality-and some of it more tenuous, such as the assertion that this village was the birthplace of the Muladí chieftain Omar Ben Hafsun, who gave the Caliphate of Cordoba so many headaches in the tenth century. This theory is considered increasingly unlikely.

Otherwise, it is reasonable to believe that the history of Parauta must have been tightly linked to that of the closest villages, as there is no chronicle of any kind of any special event that occurred in this locality.

Outstandings Visits:
Except in exceptional cases first class architectural specimens do not abound in small mountain villages, which means that the scenery plays almost the only role. The urban landscape of these localities, protected from outside influences by their inaccessibility and really only opened to the outside world in the mid-twentieth century, should be counted as part of this scenery.
In Parauta’s case, its urban layout is purely Moorish, and its streets exhibit an absolutely irregular pattern. One peculiarity is that the façades of some of its houses have had the whitewash applied directly without a plaster coating, giving a spontaneous air of rusticity that does not go unnoticed. It can be seen that there are two neighbourhoods in the village that meet at a square; in the northern neighbourhood is the Inmaculada Concepción church.

This church was built in the sixteenth century. It has a Latin cross floor plan with a wooden roof over the transept, and the exterior is noteworthy for its Mudéjar tower with semicircular arches on the bell level, which is covered by a hip roof. In the church can be seen an eighteenth century image of a Virgin of Sorrows and a polychrome wooden carving of San Pascual Bailón, a copy by Adrián Risueño of an original by Pedro de Mena.
Not far from the village is the Valdecilla evergreen oak tree, which some refer to as “the mother of all evergreen oaks”. It is a specimen that is unique to its species and has been cited in several botanical publications. It is more than 20 metres tall and more than three metres in diameter.

How to Get There:
From any point on the Costa del Sol go to San Pedro de Alcántara via the AP-7 (N-340) and there take the A-376 road towards Ronda. About 10 kilometres short of that city, turn onto the A-519, which leads to Parauta.

 

 

 

Interesting Facts:
Surface Area: 44.2 square kilometres
Population: about 250
What the natives are called: Parauteños
Monuments: the Inmaculada Concepción church, Valdecilla evergreen oak tree, Sierra de las Nieves Nature Park
Geographical Location: in the eastern part of the Ronda region. The municipality borders the Guadalhorce valley region and the Western Costa del Sol. The village is 800 metres above sea level and is 105 kilometres from the provincial capital. The area records an average annual rainfall of 1,300 litres per square metre and the average temperature is about 14º C.
Tourist Information: Town Hall, Plaza del Calvario, 30 (29421). Telephone: 952 181 028; Fax: 952 181 000