The town of Benalúa de Guadix is located in the western area of the fertile plain of Guadix, at 870 meters of altitude. The land that surrounds it is argillaceous, characteristic that has facilitated the excavation of caves throughout all its history.
The local tradition attributes the formation of this town to the industrial revolution that in the middle of the XIX century brought to the region the already disappear Azucarera del Carmen and gave a turn to the life and the economy of the region. The company was impelled by the Fernandez-Figares family, who invested in Benalúa the benefits obtained with the exploitation of the iron mines of Alquife. They also built a residence in the town, the so called Palacete Fígares, a building of two floors with a noticeable aspect of fortress, also disappeared.
But the truth is that the own name of the town, whose meaning has a clear Arab origin, indicates a medieval antiquity at least. Benalúa had to be one of the farmhouses that were dedicated to the cultivation of territories of irrigated land in the surroundings of Guadix, in this case those of a fertile plain formed in the confluence of the Guadix and Fardes rivers.
The surroundings of this town have served as human settlement since the Neolithic period, increasing its population with the Argaric culture. Numerous vestiges of painted ceramics confirm the presence of Iberian settlers. At Roman time, it became a Pagus Minor, at the side of the Herculea Route. According to the tradition it was visited by the disciples of the Santiago apostle headed by San Torcuato, who was martyred and buried in the Hermitage Tomb. At Arab time it was a very scattered set of caves, tower and small villages that defended the entrance of Guadix. It received the name of Ben-Allah (house of God) or Ben-al-Guad (joint of the rivers), from which the present name derives. After the Reconquista it became a cortijada dependent of Fonelas. In 1818, with the dissolution of the estates, it acquires its own jurisdiction and the title of town.
Of Benalúa, the vegetables and fruits and the plates of smaller hunting with quail, partridge or rabbit, stand out. Its inlays are also advisable and the typical recipes as the pringue cakes, the barbecued lamb or the stew of tarbinas.
© Patronato Provincial de Turismo de Granada I Diputación de Granada
