There are many literary figures linked to the Ribera del Duero: from Dante to Delibes, including Alberti and Larra. We tell you ten curiosities that relate writers or their literary works with our region, which serves as inspiration across the seas.

Welcome to this walk through the Ribera del Duero through the ink of writers of all times, from the 12th century to the present day. Literature is a very interesting way of getting to know our heritage, don’t you think?

• El Cantar del Mío Cid (year 1200): San Esteban de Gormaz
• Dante (1.265-1.321) and The Divine Comedy: Caleruega
• Mariano José de Larra (1809 – 1837) and Aranda de Duero
• Pío Baroja (1872 – 1956): Aranda de Duero and La Vid
• Rafael Alberti (1902 – 1999) and Peñaranda de Duero
• Camilo José Cela (1916 – 2002) and Roa de Duero
• Delibes (1920 – 2010): Peñafiel and Quintanilla de Onésimo
• Other works and writers
• Ribera del Duero Literary Awards
• Bodegas Protos and The Kingdom of Letters

► EL CANTAR DEL MÍO CID: San Esteban de Gormaz, Castillejo de Robledo and Aldea de San Esteban

As you know, El Cantar de mio Cid recounts the heroic deeds of the last years of the life of the Castilian knight Rodrigo Díaz de Vivar, popularly known as El Cid Campeador. This epic tale is anonymous and dates from around 1200, some 100 years after the knight’s death in Valencia. It is divided into three songs: The Song of the Banishment, the Song of the Wedding and the Song of the Affront of Corpes. In this last song, our riverside towns are given prominence, describing the surroundings with absolute topographical perfection.

Despite the long journey of El Cid’ s exile between Burgos and Valencia (which ended in more than six years), the Soria and riverside town of San Esteban de Gormaz is repeatedly mentioned in this epic tale. This fact, together with the perfect knowledge of the toponymy of the surrounding area, has led some scholars to believe that the anonymous poet may have lived in or even been a native of this town in Soria.

The Cantar del Mio Cid says of the people of San Estebe that they are measured and prudent. Furthermore, the “famous” affront to El Cid’s daughters took place very close by, halfway between Castillejo de Robledo and La Vid, where there is now a hermitage, that of La Concepción del Monte, whose construction dates back to 1171 on the site where, according to the story, El Cid’s daughters (Doña Elvira and Doña Sol) had been stripped and mistreated.

After the affront to his daughters, the poem narrates that they were sheltered in the Tower of Doña Urraca. It is thought that it could be located on a hill between Aldea de San Esteban and Soto de San Esteban, from which the historic line of the Duero can be seen.

Photo: San Esteban de Gormaz with an allusive text from El Cantar del Mío Cid (on loan from the Tourist Office of San Esteban de Gormaz).

PER ABBAT and GUMIEL DE IZÁN (Burgos)

The Cantar del Mio Cid is the first extensive poetic work of Spanish literature and the only epic song of the same that has been preserved almost complete. It is known that it was the cleric Per Abbat who copied and manuscribed it. Per Abbat was born in Gumiel de Izán (Burgos), as described in a document from 1219, which states that he had a house in this riverside town, a family home inherited from his parents. The Burgos couple, Timoteo Riaño and Carmen Gutiérrez (both professors), have devoted their lives to transcribing the Cantar, based on the text studied by Menéndez Pidal. They are categorical in proclaiming the Gomellan cleric as “the only one who meets all the requirements to be considered as the author of the Cantar de Mio Cid”. They are also the creators of the Camino del Cid walking route.

As a curiosity about El Cid, the “HISTORIA RODERICI” (12th century, by an unknown author, which in reality is more a biographical chronicle about El Cid written in Latin than a literary work), mentions his maternal grandfather, Rodrigo Álvarez, as tenant of the land of Curiel (Corel), among other properties. Curiel is another of our hundred and something riverside towns.

► DANTE, LA DIVINA COMEDIA and CALERUEGA

This Italian poet, banished from his hometown (Florence) and an active defender of Italian unity, is nicknamed “the Supreme Poet” and is considered the father of the Italian language. His best known work is The Divine Comedy, of universal fame. This epic is divided into three parts: Hell, Purgatory and Paradise.

Well, in canto XII of Paradise, following Dante and Beatrice’s meeting with the wise and blessed spirits of the heaven of the Sun, we find the long and passionate speech in honour of Saint Dominic of Guzman delivered by the Franciscan Bonaventure of Fidanza. Here Dante recalls the riverside town where Saint Dominic was born: Caleruega (Italianised as Calaroga). To better define its position, Dante briefly describes the geographical location of this village, “situated in that part of the Iberian peninsula where the zephyr rises, the spring wind that awakens vegetation all over Europe, not far from the Atlantic coast, behind whose waves the sun hides at the end of its long diurnal journey”. Dante also specifies that Caleruega is in the territory dominated by the King of Castile, whose coat of arms shows two castles and two lions: on the left side of the coat of arms the lion underlies the castle, while on the left the castle is subdued by the lion.

As for DANTE, in the Museo Casa de las Bolas (Aranda) you can see Dante’s Divine Comedy illustrated by Dalí.

Photo: Caleruega with allusive text by Dante.

► MARIANO JOSÉ DE LARRA and ARANDA DE DUERO

The writer but also journalist and politician, Mariano José de Larra, is considered, together with Espronceda, Bécquer and Rosalía de Castro, a leading figure of Spanish literary Romanticism.

The short but intense life of this writer, who used pseudonyms such as “Fígaro” and “El Duende”, began in the Ribera del Duero in 1824 when his father, a doctor by profession, was sent to Aranda after going into exile and visiting several Spanish cities. Together with his second wife, he settled in the Plaza Mayor (then called Plaza del Rey) and became part of the town’s high society. The teenager Mariano José de Larra, who was 16 years old at the time, studied in nearby Valladolid although he spent his holidays in Aranda, but curiously did not take his exams. It can be said that the cause is due to a “mysterious event” which also distances father and son: an affair of skirts! The young man falls in love with a woman much older than him, who turns out to be his father’s mistress. Some time later, after taking his October exams (and passing all his subjects), he returns to Madrid at the end of 1825, while the rest of the family moves to a new destination in 1826: Medina del Campo.

While married (he had three children), Larra began a stormy relationship with Dolores Armijo, but that was another chapter in the life of this outstanding writer who ended up committing suicide by shooting himself in the temple, before he was 28 years old.

► PÍO BAROJA and ARANDA DE DUERO

The relationship of the doctor and writer Pío Baroja with the Ribera del Duero goes back mainly to his family, specifically to his great-uncle, Eugenio de Aviraneta e Ibargoyen, one of the characters who has occupied most pages in Spanish literature, who during the War of Independence joined forces with Juan Martín el Empecinado and who was also Mayor of Aranda (1820 – 1823). It was precisely this facet that Baroja used to write“Con la pluma y con el sable“(1915), one of the 22 novels that would immortalise Don Eugenio in the series entitled“Memorias de un hombre de acción” (Memoirs of a man of action).

The novelist of the Generation of ’98 has a bust in the Plaza de la Virgencilla de Aranda, which reads one of his phrases: “Aranda felt a desire for renewal and improvement”.

In this book, Pío Baroja also narrates an entire chapter in the Monastery of Santa María de la Vid, precisely set on Christmas Eve. You can see it explained in detail in this article in the Diario de Burgos.

Photo: Plaza Mayor in Aranda de Duero, with allusive text by Pío Baroja.

► RAFAEL ALBERTI: ARANDA DE DUERO y PEÑARANDA DE DUERO

He was 23 years old and had just won the National Literature Prize. Rafael Alberti wrote these verses on the journey from Aranda to Peñaranda de Duero, while travelling with his brother Agustín, who was the representative of a wine house. The young poet from Cadiz speaks with the emotion of a first experience. His sensations fed“La amante“, his own “Campos de Castilla” by Machado, of whom he was a great admirer.

Photo: Castle of Peñaranda de Duero, with allusive text by Rafael Alberti.

► CAMILO JOSÉ CELA and ROA DE DUERO

One of our most universal writers, the Nobel Prize for Literature winner Camilo José Cela, also visited the Ribera del Duero, recording his journey in his book“Judíos, moros y cristianos“(1956). It is a journey through Castilian lands, carried out between 1946 and 1952, and which continues the literary trail of his famous “Viaje a la Alcarria” (Journey to the Alcarria). He perfectly covers the natural region from San Esteban de Gormaz to Peñafiel, but we highlight his passage through Roa de Duero: “Roa is a town at a glance. Roa is on a hill and forms a sort of plateau over the river. The countryside of Roa is lush and green, with orchards at the exit and valleys of vines at the gates. The graciana grape is grown in Roa and the albilla grape is beginning to appear. Roa is a town of many waters” (…) and referring to the 15th century he comments: “At that time the history of Spain was like a boiling pot, and Roa was one of the most brought and carried chickpeas”.

Photo: Roa de Duero, with allusive text by Camilo José Cela.

► DELIBES: Peñafiel and Quintanilla de Onésimo

100 years after the birth of Miguel Delibes Setién (1920-2010), this novelist and member of the Royal Spanish Academy (but also a graduate in Commerce, cartoonist, columnist, journalist and director of the newspaper El Norte de Castilla), knew the province of Valladolid perfectly well and, notebook in hand, he travelled around it assiduously.

The so-called Delibes (tourist) Routes are six in number and are based on six of the writer’s works. In each of these routes there are complete quotations from each book, where the place visited is mentioned, giving details of the landscape, animals, plants or customs of the countryside. Four of these six routes cover points in the Ribera del Duero region of Valladolid, visiting the municipalities of Quintanilla de Onésimo and Peñafiel in particular.

Photo: Plaza del Coso de Peñafiel and Castillo, with allusive text by Miguel Delibes.

Photo: The Duero river as it passes through Quintanilla de Onésimo (left bank), with allusive text by Miguel Delibes.

► OTHER WORKS AND WRITERS LINKED TO THE RIBERA DEL DUERO

The trail of literary works and writers linked to the Ribera del Duero is more extensive, of course… Let us quickly mention some others:

• Diego de Gumiel, a native of Gumiel de Izán (Burgos), was editor of the famous chivalric novel “Tirant lo Blanc” (published in 1490).
• Gonzalo de Berceo (1198-1264), the greatest exponent of the mester de clerecía, cites the town of Curiel (Coriel) in his work on ‘La vida de Santo Domingo de Silos’ (13th century), as the place of origin of one of the cripples who was miraculously healed by the saint.
• Don Juan Manuel, nephew of King Alfonso X the Wise and lord of Peñafiel, wrote his work “El Conde Lucanor” (1335), a reference in medieval Castilian literature, during his residence in the town.
• It is possible that Iñigo Dávalos was the author of the novel ‘Curial e Güelfa’ (15th century), a masterpiece of medieval Catalan-Valencian literature, taking the riverside town of Curiel as the inspiration for the name of the main male character.
• The playwrights Lope de Vega (1562-1635) and Francisco de Quevedo (1580-1645) were regulars at La Ventosilla (Gumiel de Mercado), one of King Philip III’s favourite places for hunting every autumn, a fact that is reflected in Lope’s letters, describing with admiration the specimens shot by the king.
• Miguel de Cervantes Saavedra dedicated the first part ofDon Quixote(1605), the masterpiece of Spanish literature and one of the most important works of universal literature, to his patron, Alonso Diego López de Zúñiga y Sotomayor, 6th Duke of Béjar and lord of Curiel and its land, among other properties.
• In 1874,Benito Pérez Galdós(1843-1920), one of the best representatives of the Spanish realist novel of the 19th century, dedicated one of the novels of his famous National Episodes to Juan Martín Díez “El Empecinado” ( 1775-1825), the riverside guerrilla of the Spanish War of Independence who, at the end of his life, was arrested, imprisoned and hanged in Roa de Duero: “He was a dark-skinned character, who seemed to be stained with “pecines”, as the mud from the bed of the streams is known in the area”. He also mentions Aranda de Duero and probably some other riverside place during his wanderings.
• And we refer to the Library of the Monastery of La Vid, where manuscript books and various incunabula form part of its collection of more than 150,000 copies, among which we highlight:
  • Bestiary of Don Juan de Austria: the only Spanish-language bestiary in the world. There are 484 pages full of wonders, secrets and a multitude of realistic coloured drawings, attributed to Martín Villaverde (1570).
  • Medieval manuscript of Nuestra Señora de La Vid ( 14th century), considered an Asset of Cultural Interest as a movable asset in 1997.

If we refer to current literary events, many novels are totally inspired or contextualised in our region. In order of publication, here is a small compilation:

• “El balcón de la costurera” by Ana de la Fuente (2011).
• “La herencia del centeno” by Pablo Sanz Yagüe (Ed. ___, 2012). Its main character, Tirso, a young literature professor, spends his holidays in the Ribera del Duero region where an archaeologist friend suggests he collaborate in the exhumation of mass graves with victims of the Civil War.
• “El código de la Ribera” by Juan Carlos Lizalde Angulo (Ed. Dykinson, 2015). Noir novel set in settings such as the underground cellars of Aranda.
• “Legends of the Kingdoms of the Northern Plateau” by Juan Salvador Chico (Ed. Almuzara, 2016).
• “La Virgen de los huesos” by Guillermo Galván (Ed. Harpercollins, 2020)
• The writer Gonzalo de Paz in his first novel,“La tumba del héroe“(Ed. Caligrama, 2020), refers to Aranda.
• “Memento Mori” by César Pérez Gellida (Ed. Debolsillo, 2021). It sets a transcendental episode of his award-winning first novel in the Valle del Cuco, Bocos de Duero and Peñafiel.
• “Campos de Ababoles” by Santos Bocigas Martín (Ed. Nueva Estrella, 2021). A historical novel that takes place between Soria and Paris at the beginning of the 20th century and refers to Langa de Duero, the writer’s home town.
• “Cisma” by Javier Cobo García (Ed. Avant, 2021). The first of a trilogy starring Ariel and a crime in a remote village in Seville, investigated by a policewoman from Aranda de Duero. The novel begins in Isilla Street.
• “La marca del agua” by Montserrat Iglesias (Ed. Lumen, 2021), tells the story of the colonisation of the inhabitants of Linares del Arroyo after it was submerged to become a swamp, with La Vid as the host village.
• The young novelist from Arandina, Miriam Cardizales, and her novel “Bailes del pasado” (2021).
• Estefanía Quintana with “Bajo el cielo de Londres” (Létrame Editorial, 2021)

RIBERA DEL DUERO LITERARY AWARDS

Since 2008 and every two years, the Control Board of our Designation of Origin has been organising the Ribera del Duero International Prize, a literary competition organised in collaboration with the publishing house Páginas de Espuma. Ribera del Duero dedicates its award to short stories “as this is a literary genre that bears many similarities to the art of making quality wine”. The prize is worth 50,000 euros and, in its last edition (2022), more than a thousand works by authors from thirty-seven countries were submitted. These are the winners of this competition to date:

• Liliana Colanzi (2022)
• Marcelo Luján (2020)
• Antonio Ortuño (2018)
• Samanta Schweblin (2016)
• Guadalupe Nettel (2014)
• Marcos Giralt Torrente (2012)
• Javier Sáez de Ibarra (2010)

Many other literary competitions are organised in Ribera del Duero, among which we highlight:

• The “Villa de San Esteban”, organised by the Town Council of San Esteban de Gormaz, which has now been running for 26 editions.
• The incipient Short Story Literary Competition (Tórtoles de Esgueva Town Council).
• The Short Story Competition on Gender Equality (Aranda de Duero Town Council).

► BODEGAS PROTOS and THE KINGDOM OF LETTERS

We must not forget the very interesting room called“The Kingdom of Letters” at Bodegas Protos in Peñafiel. This is a space dedicated to literature lovers where they can take a tour through the quotes of some of the most significant works of literature in Castilian, from the Golden Age, through the Generation of ’98 or the Generation of ’27: Ink and wine glass, friends forever.

Kingdom of Letters at Bodegas Protos (Peñafiel)

Let’s finish. Some may have even smiled thinking that we were going to mention the writer Francisco Umbral for his ill-advised phrase alluding to Aranda de Duero in a TV programme back in 1993, but no…

We read you in your comments!

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS and BIBLIOGRAPHY:

• http://aldeadesanesteban.com/epoca-celtiberica/poem-of-mio-cid/
• http://www.gumieldeizan.es/content/personajes-ilustres
• https://www.caminodelcid.org/
• Per Abat: https://www.diariodeburgos.es/
• Javier Iglesia (Historian)
• Fernando Repiso
• Máximo López Vilaboa: Diario de Burgos (Pío Baroja, Aranda)
• Máximo López Vilaboa: Diario de Burgos (Pío Baroja, La Vid)
• Máximo López Vilaboa: Diario de Burgos (Camilo José Cela)
• Máximo López Vilaboa: Diario de Burgos (Lope de Vega)
• Bodegas Protos and “El reino de las letras” (The Kingdom of Letters)
• Wikipedia