Ovalle

The first settled people of the Ovalle area belonged to the El Molle culture, who left petroglyphs and cup-marked stones at sites such as Valle del Encanto, where hunter-gatherers had already lived for thousands of years. The Diaguita followed, and in the 15th century the Inca took control of the valley. Under Spanish rule the Limarí valley became the main source of wealth for the Corregimiento de Coquimbo, and the land where the town now stands formed part of the colonial Hacienda Tuquí, passed down through marriages and dowries among a few landowning families.

Before 1831 the village of Barraza was the main settlement of the district. That year the provincial assembly of Coquimbo decided to found a new town on the Tuquí lands, at a strategic point between the mountains and the sea, and named it after the recently deceased vice-president José Tomás Ovalle. A governor and the first mayors were appointed that April, public buildings were laid out from 1832, and Ovalle was granted the rank of city in 1867.

The town grew as the service centre of a farming valley, helped by nearby copper and iron mines and later by large irrigation reservoirs. Earthquakes have shaped its story: on 6 April 1943 an earthquake of magnitude 8.3 centred in the commune killed 12 people and left more than 23,000 homeless, and further large quakes struck the region in 1997 and 2015. Ovalle is now the capital of Limarí Province.

Ovalle is known for fiestas that keep rural traditions alive. Summer brings the Fiesta del Cabrito, devoted to roast kid goat, and the Fiesta de la Vendimia for the grape harvest, while in January the religious festival of the Niño Dios at nearby Sotaquí draws pilgrims. Book fairs and craft shows fill the Plaza de Armas, and the municipal band plays there at midday on Sundays.

The town takes pride in its deep past. Its archaeological heritage of petroglyphs, rock paintings, pottery and cup-marked stones is notable for its variety and richness, and the Museo del Limarí, in the old railway station, displays ceremonial pottery found in excavations around the city. Diaguita designs appear widely in local crafts, and the Municipal Market sells work in wood, lapis lazuli and combarbalita, a stone quarried in the province.

Cultural life also has a modern side. The former Teatro Nacional, bought and rebuilt as the Teatro Municipal and finished in 2012, hosts an Ibero-American theatre meeting held in Ovalle since 2005, with companies from across Latin America and beyond. Football centres on the local club, Deportes Ovalle, and summer life gathers on the riverside at Los Peñones.

The commune of Ovalle had 111,272 inhabitants at the 2017 census, up from about 98,000 in 2002. Besides the city it covers about 120 rural localities, among them small villages along the Limarí and its tributaries and some fishing coves on the coast. Its mayor since December 2024 is Héctor Vega Campusano.

The economy rests on farming and goat herding. The Limarí is the most productive of the region's transverse valleys, thanks to irrigation from the La Paloma, Recoleta and Cogotí reservoirs that make up for the low rainfall. Farmers grow pisco and table grapes, olives, apricots, peaches and figs, and goats provide milk for cheese. The city itself lives from services and commerce, as small and medium producers from the countryside come to sell their goods. Copper and iron mines lie nearby, and wind and solar farms have been built across the commune in recent years.

Daily life follows the rhythm of a provincial market town: busy mornings around the market and the plaza, quiet hot afternoons, and summer evenings by the river. As across the region, years of drought have strained the water supply that farming depends on.

The Limarí valley's goats give Ovalle its best-known foods. Fresh and aged goat's cheese is sold in markets, and cabrito, roast kid goat, is the dish of festivals, celebrated each summer at the Fiesta del Cabrito. The valley's farms also supply olives, apricots, peaches and figs, turned by hand into jams, syrups, juices and cakes.

The valley is one of the main sources of pisco grapes in Chile, and the town gives its name to a local pisco. It has also become a respected wine region, known for cool-climate Chardonnay and Sauvignon Blanc grown under clear skies near the coast, with reds doing well on the higher, warmer ground inland. Wineries such as Tabalí and Tamaya welcome visitors for tastings.

Everyday eating is Chilean country food: empanadas de pino, baked beef turnovers; pastel de choclo, a pie of sweet ground corn; and cazuela, a clear stew with meat, potato and pumpkin. Lunch is the main meal, and the Feria Modelo and the Municipal Market are the places to see what the valley grows.