Consuegra

People have lived here since at least the 6th century BC, when the Carpetani built a hilltop settlement on the Cerro Calderico, the ridge above the modern town. After the Roman conquest the population moved down to the plain between the hill and the Amarguillo river, and the town, Consabura, became a municipium under the Flavian emperors. It was a key point on the roads to the north and south, and the Romans built bridges, a circus and a long dam upstream on the Amarguillo, whose remains survive. The town's name, which in Spanish means the relationship between two mothers-in-law, in fact grew out of Consabura.

Under Muslim rule much of the old population stayed, and a fortress was built on the ridge, traditionally credited to Almanzor. Castile took the area after the fall of Toledo in 1085, but in 1097 the Almoravids under Yusuf ibn Tashfin defeated a Castilian army at the Battle of Consuegra, where Diego, the son of El Cid, was killed. In 1183 the town and its lands were given to the Knights Hospitaller, who made the castle the centre of their Campo de San Juan. Juan José of Austria, son of Philip IV, later lived there.

French troops garrisoned the castle during the Peninsular War, it was destroyed in 1813, and the order's properties were expropriated in the 19th century. On 11 September 1891 the Amarguillo flooded and killed 359 people. Consuegra was declared a city in 1927. In 1976 it was the only municipality in Spain to report a majority "no" in the political reform referendum; residents alleged fraud, and the result was annulled. The castle passed to the town in 1962, and its restoration gained new impetus from 1985, while the windmills, which stopped working in the early 1980s, were rebuilt as the town's emblem.

Consuegra's image belongs to Don Quixote. The windmills became famous after Cervantes's novel appeared in the 17th century, with its scene of the knight charging at them, and the town has leaned into the connection: the twelve rebuilt mills carry names such as Sancho, Rucio, Mambrino and Caballero del Verde Gabán, taken mostly from the book, and the saffron festival crowns a "Dulcinea". The mills were introduced by the Hospitallers to grind wheat and were handed down from fathers to sons until they fell idle.

The Fiesta de la Rosa del Azafrán, held on the last weekend of October since 1963, celebrates the saffron harvest of this part of La Mancha with grain milled in the Sancho windmill and a cooking competition. Consuegra Medieval in August, Holy Week, the feast of San Antón in January, when animals are blessed, and the town's own fiestas from 20 to 25 September fill the rest of the calendar.

Crafts are a local tradition, with workshops making carved doors and furniture and stone workshops using local materials. The town also keeps friendly ties with the Order of Malta, the successor of the Hospitallers, more than a century and a half after the order lost its properties here.

About 9,800 people lived in the municipality in 2025, according to the INE, down from a peak of just over 11,000 in 2011. The town sits at about 700 metres on the edge of the La Mancha plain, near the eastern fringes of the Montes de Toledo.

Agriculture is the main sector of the economy, in a landscape of dry plains and vineyards, with textile and wood industries alongside. Tourism has become a new source of income this century, built on the ridge, the castle and the saffron festival, and much of it arrives in day trips. Consuegra has no railway and limited bus services, so most households rely on the car, and the CM-42 road gives quick access to Toledo.

Life centres on Plaza de España, its bars and its terraces, and on the streets between the river and the ridge. The rhythm is that of a Spanish country town: quiet during the heat of a summer afternoon, busy in the evening, and packed for the festivals.

Consuegra eats the food of La Mancha and of Toledo province. Migas, first made by shepherds from stale bread and other ingredients, are the best-known dish, and gachas are made from flour with chorizo. Pisto manchego is a warm dish of tomatoes, onions, courgettes or aubergine, peppers and olive oil, often served with a fried egg or cured ham. Carcamusas, pork in a tomato sauce, game such as partridge, and huevos rotos, eggs fried in plenty of oil over chips with ham or chorizo, are common in local bars. Duelos y quebrantos, eggs with chorizo and bacon, is a dish mentioned in the opening paragraphs of Don Quixote.

Manchego, the firm sheep's-milk cheese of La Mancha made from the milk of the Manchega breed and protected by a designation of origin, is made in and around the town. Saffron is the local pride, and marzipan, one of the main industries of the Toledo area, is made here too, above all for Christmas.

The surrounding vineyards belong to the La Mancha wine designation, the largest continuous vine-growing area in the world, and the town has its own wineries.