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Genalguacil AREA: 31,60 km² ALTITUDE ABOVE SEA LEVEL: 517 metres AVERAGE ANNUAL RAINFALL: 1310 l/m² AVERAGE ANNUAL TEMPERATURE: 13’9 ºC POPULATION CENSUS 1994: 675  
The lands of Genagaucil form part of the Bajo Genal, in the region of the Genal highlands. Situated between the Genal river and Sierra Bermeja, they offer a very rugged and lush landscape. From the olive grove covered hills which descend around the town to the bottom of the valley, in the limits with the municipality of Benarrabá, until the pines mixed with cork trees and oaks which ascend the shadowy gorges of Sierra Bermeja, the panorama is eminently green. At the top of the sierras, its beauty is added to the great ecological interest of the fir forrest which has earned the declaration of a Natural Park by the Junta de Andalucia. The physiognomy of the municipality is completed by small plots, taking advantage of the abundance of water and the river shelves which produce lemons, oranges and vegetables on the river banks. The name of the town comes from the Arabic "gema al wacir" - the minister’s gardens -, which makes one suppose that a head of state used to live in this town at that time. It is known that here there used to be gold, silver, an copper mines, as there are still some vestiges in the place called Los Morteretes. Don Diego Hurtado de Mendoza, chronicler of the Granada wars, tells of the expulsion of the last Moors, and emphasizing that the noble don Alonso de Aguilar died at the hands of the Moor chief Feri de Benestepar. After the expulsion it was repopulated with Christians from other areas, and in the ecclesiastic census of 1586, the nucleus of Genalgaucil appears as a the ancestral Duque de Arcos. It is known that the town had the identity of a village, but without mentioning the monarch and the era in which it was conceded.
A highland town which rises over a hill, and originates steep and windy streets, with one storey white houses which denote their Arabic past. The only monument is the parish church, under the protection of San Pedro de Verona and built in the 17th century, with three naves, separated by arches held by columns, and a wooden armour cover. The front is open to the side of the Gospel, and on the outside is the octagonal based tower. Outside the town, any of the spots which surround it have ecological , scenic, and even geological interest, as with the old mines, the royals of Sierra Bermeja and the Genal Valley.
The handicraft is practically nil, so the visitor is left with the opportunity of buying the local wine which is grown and made here.
Pork products occupy a pre-eminent place in the Genalgaucil kitchens, as do all the Ronda Highland dishes. Nevertheless, here they have a hot soup, breadcrumbs fried with garlic in the winter, and tomato soup for the summer. The unfermented grape juice from the land has to be re-mentioned.
On the 2nd of February they celebrate the Virgen de la Candelaria and on the 29th of April is the festivity of San Pedro de Verona. The Easter processions offer a special vision through the streets where it runs its course, and on the 24th of June is San Juan. There is also a tradition they call taking the first swim of the year.
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History and Landscape
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