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Pizarra is a tiny town lying 30
kilometres upriver in the Guadalhorce valley at the foot of the
350 metre high Sierra del Hacho. Still a largely
farming community, it has so far managed to avoid the threat of
absorption by the spreading metropolis of Málaga in spite of the
recent appearance of the two commuter settlements of Zalea and Cerralba
on its western face.
 Neither the Romans nor the Moors
made very much of Pizarra and it had to wait for the coming of the
Christian era to get its real start. In 1483 a hundred settlers
arrived, led by the indefatigable Don Pedro Romero de Figueroa,
and determined to build a town. The reason for the reluctance of
earlier people to put down roots in the spot was an eminently practical
one. High above it was a huge, unstable rock, forever threatening
to crash down upon them. The rock, known as the peñasco, was more
than 5000 cubic metres in volume and weighed almost 3000 tons. It
continued to threaten those brave, crazy or fatalistic enough to
live beneath it until 1988 when, after it showed definite signs
of cracking, the authorities finally blew it up.
It was still there in 1922 when
the palace of the Conde de Puerto Hermos was used for the Conference
of Pizarra, when leading politicians and soldiers gathered in an
attempt to find a solution to the war then raging in Spanish Morocco.
The count had built his palace in the 19th Century, after buying
the land cheaply. The palace still stands in the centre of town,
but is in private hands and not open to the public.
One place that is most definitely
open to the public is Pizarra's Municipal Museum.
The village owes this jewel in its crown to the American painter
Gino Hollander, who spent many years in the town. Beginning in the
1960s he amassed an impressive array of archæological artefacts
from many eras, including the Roman and the Moorish. When he eventually
left Spain to return to America, his collection came into the hands
of the local authorities, who took over a disused farm complex and
turned it into the museum.
Although
the museum no longer bears Hollander's name, as it once did, it
still denotes one of its two rooms as "Gino Hollander's Room", and
includes numerous examples of his painting. The items on view are
eclectic, ranging from Iberian brooches and Roman and Moorish pottery
to almost contemporary rural furniture and farm implements. Attached
to the museum is a bar restaurant serving a variety of food, which
makes a trip to the site extremely rewarding.
Pizarra should be congratulated
on making the most of its unexpected legacy. Now that the war in
Spanish Morocco is long ended, the palace of Conde de Puerto Hermos
is no longer required by the politicians in far off Madrid, and
Pizarra lives its quiet life unhurriedly in the sunshine. Málaga,
meanwhile, prowls around it like a hungry lion walking the horizon
and wondering whether to pounce.
Posada
Los Limoneros
A beautiful rural retreat offering
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