Romilla Tower and Soto de Roma

The Torre de Romilla (Romilla Tower), also known as Rome Tower, is located in the hamlet of Romilla la Vieja, in the municipality of Chauchina (Granada) and in the area known as Soto de Roma. Apparently, Federico García Lorca played when he was a child among the ruins of the tower. The poet leaves in his works small reviews that refer to Soto de Roma, as Pepe el Romano of The House of Bernarda Alba.

It is a tower built in the Nasrid period for military defensive use, which was built with mud, with an upright of rammed earth or formwork 82 centimeters high. It is rectangular, with a base measuring 9.5 x 7.1 meters, and the larger sides face in a north-south direction. The measures of the plan at the top are somewhat smaller, 9.1 x 6.8 meters, which makes its vertical outer walls have a very slight slope that confers a pyramidal trunk form to it.

The access door to the second floor is located on the east façade, about 2 meters above the current ground level. Today it is entered through a hole in the wall below the original door. Once inside, you can see how the tower is divided internally into four floors. The lower one, housing a cistern, is half-buried in the ground.