Ronda, in the Andalusian Mountains, owes its great attraction as one of the leading tourist sights in southern Spain to its extraordinary situation. The town is built on a triangular plateau, with its apex towards the south, which rears out of a fertile plain at the foot of the Serranía de Ronda
(highest point Torrecilla, 1919m/6296ft), with almost vertical rock faces on the west side, and is divided into two by the gorge of the Río Guadalevín, between 40m/130ft and 90m/295ft wide and up to 150m/490ft deep. At the southern tip of the plateau is the old town (La Ciudad), occupying the site of the Roman settlement of Arunda, with the barrio (outer district) of San Francisco below it to the south. The northern part of the plateau is occupied by the new town (Mercadillo), founded by the Catholic Monarchs after their reconquest of Ronda from the Moors in 1485. The old and the new town are linked by three bridges spanning the gorge.
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