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Cuevas del Becerro AREA: 16 km² ALTITUDE ABOVE SEA LEVEL: 733 metres AVERAGE ANNUAL RAINFALL: 820 l/m² AVERAGE ANNUAL TEMPERATURE: 15’3 ºC POPULATION CENSUS 1994: 2.025  
It is considered to be the northern entrance to the Ronda region, as although there are foothills of the highland in municipalities situated further north, as with Cañete La Real, it is from Cuevas del Becerro that the region clearly manifests the different landscape from what we have seen near the Antequera depression. The town rises above a small hill overseen by the limestone reliefs of the Vijan sierra (905 m.) and the Tercios hill (948 m.) which form a natural corridor through which the Cuevas river runs, which after collecting numerous brooks from the north of the Ronda municipality, in the area of Serrato, form the Guadalteba river. The small valley of Cuevas del Becerro is surrounded by other hills such as the Castillón (958 m.), the Palomas (957 m.) and the Pilón del Zorro (944 m.) which with their rocky oucrops speckled with some holm-oaks and thickets offer an attractive contrast to the smooth terrain of the valley covered with olive groves and cereal fields. The strategic situation of this municipality, in one of the most comfortable passages through the Ronda and Antequera region's lands, supposes the importance of the presence and passage of man and merchandise since old. There have been findings of various remains from the prehistoric era in places such as the western hillsides and north of the Cerro del Castillón, near Fuente del Zorro and the northwest border of the Cerro de las Palomas. The latter is the most important of the four. Nevertheless, the archaeological importance of the municipality is tied to the Roman era. There, there is one of the most important sites in the whole area: Las Casas de las Viñas. This site is situated next to the football fields and much material has appeared such as ceramics, tesseras, stuccoes and coins which point to a habitat of an imperial Roman epoch. There have also appeared an oil producing Roman village and various burials, but no doubt, the thing that gives the site a special interest is the Roman pottery complex, almost unique in Andalucia and of which two complete kilns are conserved and part of a third. As can be supposed, during the Arabic rule the area had to maintain a notable activity, but there is hardly any documentary evidence of this. We know that in 1330 the king Alfonso XI took the town, but couldn’t hold it for long. The definite conquest took place at the beginning of the 15th century.
Highland village and Mozarabic outline of which the richness is not in its scarce architectural examples but in its archaeological vestiges, among which are the medieval castle of the Castillón hill, a prehistoric nucleus and the previously mentioned Roman kilns. The church of San Antonio Abad is a simple construction from the beginning of the 20th century, with one nave and steeple. Other places of interest are the Moor cave (speleology) and the Nacimiento fountain.
The handicraft is barely relevant.
The gastronomy is based on pork products, with local dishes such as stew and offal. Here the homemade desserts have their singularity.
As with other towns in the Highland, for San José they celebrate a fair called "partir la vieja" (lit. breaking the old woman). The neighbours go to the countryside with food and good wine, they dance and sing rondeñas, and destroy a doll which represents an old woman. This celebration coincides with Lent, as in olden times this day offered the possibilities of relaxing from the strict religious rules. The 15th of May they celebrate the pilgrimage of San Isidro and in honour of the patron saint San Antonio Abad there are two festivites: the 17th of January and from the 2nd to the 4th of September the fair and festivities.
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HISTORY AND LANDSCAPE
Places to Visit
Shopping
Gastronomy
FESTIVITIES AND TRADITIONS