Fuente de Piedra : country property for sale in andalucia,inland spain at the costa del sol

Fuente de Piedra

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A series of epidemics in the 18th and early 19th centuries decimated the population of the town, and the fountain had to be lifted and brought to another site. It was believed that this caused the water to lose its curative properties, and the fountain was abandoned, to be finally covered over in 1959. In 1990 it was excavated into existence again and restored in 1994, where it can now be seen in the Plaza de la Constituci�n. The history of the town itself has always been closely linked with the history of the salt lake, the Laguna Salada. This was worked for the extraction of salt from Roman times until 1951. The lake was named a National Hunting Refuge in 1981, and at present is a national reserve that has a large colony of flamingoes that breed there.

After the Moorish domination, the town was abandoned in 1461, reconstructed once more in 1547. Then followed its period of maximum splendour, with the water being exported as far as the Kingdom of Naples and America.

Fuente de Piedra country is situated on a practically flat area, surrounded by the Sierras de Mollina mountain range, whose highest peaks reach to almost 800 metres. The highest point within the municipality of Fuente de Piedra is the Conejas, at 500 metres. The first settlements here date back a long way, to the 5th century B.C., although the first written reference to the place dates from Roman times.

This is written in Latin, its translation being: "Lucio Postumio Satulio, by the vote that he has by right, dedicates this altar stone of the divine fountain." The reference is to the water with its curative powers, and which gives the name to the town, in that those who drink it will be cured of their "mal de la piedra", illness of the stone, meaning gall stones.

Laguna de Fuente de Piedra
The lake, which is only 500 metres from the town itself, is elliptical shaped, measuring about 6,5 kilometres from end to end and 2,5 kilometres wide, occupying a space of 1,300 hectares. Its geological make-up has resulted in a unique collection of flora and fauna in this place, a humid zone in the western Mediterranean that is home to the biggest flamingo breeding grounds in all of Spain. Along with the humid zones of Campillos, made up of six lakes, and the lake at La Ratosa in Alameda, Andaluc�a thus has a magnificent complex of lakes rich in animal, bird and plant life.more...