Montilla, a town and
municipality in southern
Spain, in the province of
Córdoba, 32 miles south of the provincial capital,
Córdoba. , the town had a population of 23,245. The
olive oil of the district is abundant and good, and it is the peculiar flavour of the pale dry light
wine of Montilla that gives its name to the
sherry known as
Amontillado. Montilla is the largest component of the
Montilla-Moriles designated wine region. The large wineries Alvear and Gran Barquero are located in Montilla, which has an annual
vendimia (wine-harvest) festival. Montilla was the birthplace of "The Great Captain," Gonzalo or
Gonsalvo of Córdoba (1453-1515), and contains the ruined
castle of his father, Pedro Fernández de Córdoba.
El Inca Garcilaso de la Vega lived thirty years in Montilla, and the future saint
Juan de Ávila lived for the last fifteen years of his life in Montilla, where he is buried. Local folkloric figures are the witches "las Camachas", mentioned by Cervantes in the "
Dialogue of the Dogs". The central portion of that work is set in a convent which today contains the town hall (in Spanish, " ayuntamiento
).