Nuestra Señora de la Fuensanta

My weekly bike exploration took me to the nearby town of Corcoya today. The patron of Corcoya, and apparently the entire region, is the Virgen of Fuensanta. I knew that she had an ermita in Corcoya because last year my friend told me that for the romeria in Corcoya a lot of people from La Roda make the pilgrimage (walking) to visit her in the ermita. However, I had never been.

The chapel is really beautiful, at least outside. It was closed so I didn't get a chance to see the interior. The building is from the 17 century; although the discovery of the Virgen de la Fuensanta, according to legend, was somewhere around 1384.

Another interesting feature of the ermita and its surroundings are the "cuevas del Tempranillo". The ermita de la Fuensanta is one of the stops on the "Ruta del Tempranillo". Until today, I thought that this ruta was some kind of wine tour: tempranillo is a common wine grape here in Spain, though I'm not very knowledgeable in viticulture and they may not even grow around here.

In any case, today I discovered that the so called "Ruta del Tempranillo" is named for Jose Maria Hinojosa alias "El Tempranillo". During a romeria he got into a knife fight over a woman and ended up killing the other man. From that day on he was running from the law; but since Andalucia in those times was a dangerous place to travel alone, he rounded up some men and headed a group of bandoleros.

He and his bandoleros became well known for robbing wealthy travelers and imposing fees on the stages using the roads in his area. People called him the King of Sierra Morena (the mountains in this area). There was even an award of six thousand reales for his capture: dead or alive. However, he could not be caught and legend has it that he became a sort of Andalusian Robbin Hood--famous for stealing from the wealthy and giving to the poor.

His connection to the ermita comes from his supposed faith in the Virgen de la Fuensanta. He used to visit the ermita often and would sleep in the little caves nearby so no one would know he was there. This was supposedly a safe haven for him, where he could get some peace and quiet from his life on the run. It was also at this chapel where finally in 1832, King Fernando VII officially pardoned him and he and his men became law enforcement in the local sierra.

(Above are the caves)

Only a year after his pardon, on a mission to capture a group of thieves, he was mortally wounded (a gunshot) and died in the nearby town of Alameda.

Interesting, huh? I had no idea...all this time, I've seen the signs for the "Ruta del Tempranillo" and thought I needed to get out there and do some wine tasting! Oops! I guess you learn something new every day.