Peñacerrada-Urizaharra

Spain, Spain

---

Peñacerrada-Urizaharra is a small hilltop municipality in Álava province, Basque Country, northern Spain, strategically located between historic Navarre and Castile kingdoms along ancient trade routes.

Founded possibly in the 8th century on the rocky Urizarra site ("old villa" in Basque) with an original castle whose ruins remain northeast across the Inglares River, it gained formal status around 1256 as a fortified villa and was ceded in 1377 to Mariscal Diego Gómez Sarmiento by King Enrique II.

 Site of a key 1838 First Carlist War battle where Liberals routed Carlists, it features the remarkable rock-cut Church of Nuestra Señora de la Peña de Faido with its barrel-vaulted nave, baptistery, 18th-century stone retablo, 16th-century murals, and prehistoric temple traces, preserving medieval heritage amid scenic highland landscapes.