Algarinejo is located in the Montes Occidentales and it is based on the skirt of the Cerro del Calvario. It owes its present name to the Arab word al-Garín (the Caves). It is a town of farmers, where most of its citizens have as main means of subsistence the exploitation of the olive groves. A great part of its population lives in rural means. The whole town, due to its geographic location and its way of life, has good characteristics for the rural and interior tourism. In some areas, artisan activities like the homemade cheese production, the conserves and the salted fish can still be observed. As well as manufactures like albardonería, the wicker work, esparto or embroiders and mantillas.
Algarinejo has a village attached: Fuentes de Cesna. It is located to the southwest of the town, in an area surrounded by hills and ravines. Its origin is remote and there are news that in the XV century it was a town of importance where the Arabs dedicated to the jewel commerce inhabited. In 1940, the old town, known as Las Fuentes Viejas, suffered a great rain storm. They were rock loosenings that caused numerous victims and the town was practically destroyed.
In the Antiquity, Algarinejo was a Roman settlement. It has been demonstrated by a recent excavation of a discovered archaeological site in a place of the Constitucion Avenue. There, rests of walls and pavements of an Iberian-Roman period construction appeared, as well as several burials s corresponding to a cemetery whose chronology still has not been dated with exactitude.
Its origin goes back to the existence of caves that served like occasional refuge to shepherds of the area and which they were known as al-Garín. It has an obvious Arabic-Andalusian past and these caves were mentioned by Alfonso XI in the "Book of the Montería". After the Christian conquest, Algarinejo was put under the Council of Loja law. Later, it was sold by Felipe III to Don Luis de Lisón and Biedma in 1614, granting to it the title of villa in 1687.
Algarinejo conserves in its gastronomy the influences of the Arab cuisine that is reflected in its elaborated products and its popular creations. It is land of dry cultivations where chick-peas, cereals and an excellent extra virgin olive oil are cultivated. Its citizens face the winter with strong stews like the chick-peas stew, and the summer with ajoblanco or the fresh porra. The soup of courgettes with noodles and the barbo with green sauce stand out. In pastry making, the twisted rolls and palotes, strips of flour kneaded with cinnamon, sugar, egg, and milk, later fried, are characteristic. Among its more typical recipes the fig bread stands out.
© Patronato Provincial de Turismo de Granada I Diputación de Granada
