Aulencia Castle is located at the top of a little hill where the Aulencia river joins the Guadarrama river. From there, one can see a beautiful landscape, composed of the Aulencia river brook’s vegetation on one side, and the European Space Astronomy Centre on the other.
As it is for the history of this beautiful and original example of a Spanish noble mudejar castle, it is said that the Arabian feudal king who ruled this region resided here, and to him, every near townsperson paid homage and realty in order be allowed to live there. This castle is similar to many others of its time, all which still exist in different areas of Castilla, especially Jadraque (Guadalajara).
In the 14th century, it passed into the hands of García Fernández; and in the 15th century Álvarez de Toledo, a member of the court of John II of Castille, took possession of the castle. At this time, the descendants of Álvarez de Toledo, the Núñez de Toledo, raised walls around the castle in order to prevent possible attacks. During the Spanish Civil War in the 20thcentury, it was used as a fortress in the Battle of Brunete.
The majestic and slender Aulencia Castle is made up of a tower surrounded by a double wall. The exterior part is made up of six cylindrical towers united by a 1.4 m wide and 6 m high wall. The enclosure is rectangular and its longest side is 25 m long. The highest tower is up 20 m high. The territory inside the enclosure was thought to harbour simple rooms without any ornamentation. Nowadays, only ruins remain.
References:Redipuglia is the largest Italian Military Sacrarium. It rises up on the western front of the Monte Sei Busi, which, in the First World War was bitterly fought after because, although it was not very high, from its summit it allowed an ample range of access from the West to the first steps of the Karstic table area.
The monumental staircase on which the remains of one hundred thousand fallen soldiers are lined up and which has at its base the monolith of the Duke of Aosta, who was the commanding officer of the third Brigade, and gives an image of a military grouping in the field of a Great Unity with its Commanding Officer at the front. The mortal remains of 100,187 fallen soldiers lie here, 39,857 of them identified and 60,330 unknown.