Carmona travel guide

An important settlement since Chalcolithic times, Carmona has obvious natural attractions for the defensively minded, with only one real access point to the hilltop. The Phoenicians and Carthaginians bulked up the town’s fortifications before the Romans took the town in 206 BC, naming it Carmo. It was one of the major fortified outposts of the Baetica province during this period.

The Moors further improved the formidable walls and built two fortresses and a number of mosques. Carmona had a large and flourishing Jewish population through the Moorish period and up until the 16th century. Carmona was capital of its own taifa state after the Córdoba caliphate disintegrated; it was reconquered in 1247 by the canonized warrior king Fernando III. Later it was a favourite haunt of Fernando’s grandson Pedro I.