Extra virgin olive oil Arbequina cultivar

history of Araciel

The history of our lands is closely linked to thehistory of Rome. The Roman colonized it and decided that two of the most important Roman roads (Via de Italia in Hispania and Ab Asturica Terracone), should run close to these lands. At the beginning,Araciel was a town with a defensive nature and a place where the cavalries travelling on the Roman roads could have a rest.

Graphic of Roman settlements

As the Roman Empire consolidated its domain over the Valley of the Ebro, also their customs and practices found their way within local population. Some representative examples are the olive farming and the oil extraction. Although the Phoenicians were who initially introduced this new cultivation throughout the Iberian Peninsula, they were very linked to the sea and therefore, they preferred coastal enclaves rather than go into the inland areas.

Araciel was a very prosperous town which never lost its defensive attribute due to its frontier nature. In the Middle Ages it was a disputed territory between the Kingdom of Castile and the Kingdom of Navarre. Our olive oil is named after the castle which was built during this period. This town represented a place of refuge during the continuous conflicts of which the inhabitants were witnesses and victims. Finally, Araciel was abandoned in the 14th Century and people moved to Corella, a near and more secure town.

Currently, the remains of such period are obvious in our fields, i.e. the marsh or the hermitage of hermitage of Santa Lucía, which is still standing and which receives every year pilgrims in procession from Corella. The origin of this pilgrimage dates back to the devotion professed by the inhabitants of Araciel regarding their patron saint even when the town was abandoned.