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Don Benito
«Don Benito es un importante centro agrícola y comercial.»Don Benito is an important agricultural and commercial centre.
Don Benito is in the Vegas Altas del Guadiana, an irrigated plain in the centre of the province of Badajoz. It was born in the 15th century when the inhabitants of Medellín left the riverbank to escape flooding, and today it is an agricultural and industrial centre attached to Villanueva de la Serena.
Did you know
Rice and melons from Guadiana.
The city is famous throughout Spain for the production and trade of rice and melons grown in the fertile valleys of the Guadiana river.
How they talk in Don Benito
«Dombenitense» is the formal demonym and «Vegas Altas» is the territorial name used in agriculture, administration and economic life. In informal speech, the aspiration of the final «s» is common.
acho
Hey; friend; boy, as a call or interjection. In informal speech it calls the interlocutor or introduces surprise, protest, complicity, and other reactions according to the intonation.
Everyday life in Don Benito
The vote to merge
In 2022, the inhabitants voted to join the neighbouring town, Villanueva de la Serena, to become a single city: two municipalities five kilometres apart that decided to stop being two.
«Votamos para unirnos con Villanueva.» — We voted to join with Villanueva.
The «FEVAL» of agricultural machinery
The tractor and farm machinery fair brings buyers here from half of Spain. It is the event where local farmers decide on the year's investment.
The irrigated «Vegas Altas»
Around the town there are hectares of tomatoes, maize and fruit that live thanks to the Guadiana canals. In July, tomato trucks queue up in front of the canning factories.
What to eat in Don Benito
Migas extremeñas
Stale bread sautéed with garlic, pancetta and peppers, served with grapes or melon.
Caldereta de cordero
Lamb stewed slowly with dried peppers, garlic and wine.
Repápalos
Small dumplings made of stale bread, egg and milk, fried and then cooked in milk with cinnamon.
Jamón ibérico de bellota
The ham from pigs raised free-range in the dehesa.
Festivals in Don Benito
La Velá
12 October
The Virgen de las Cruces is carried on shoulders to the hermitage, and the romería is prepared in the ten days prior.
What to see in Don Benito
Iglesia de Santiago Apóstol
The town's large church, Gothic with a Renaissance portal and a very tall tower.
Museo Etnográfico
The tools, rooms and clothes of the Vegas countryside, before irrigation changed everything.
Teatro Imperial
The 20th-century theatre on the main street, restored and still in operation.
Where Don Benito comes from
Descended from the hill to escape to the river
15th century
The first houses
The inhabitants of Medellín, tired of the flooding of the Guadiana, move to a rise not far away.
16th–18th century
The market
The valley's agriculture makes it a point of exchange between La Serena and the Vegas.
1856
The city
It obtains the title of city and becomes the economic centre of the area.
20th century → today
The Vegas Altas
The Guadiana irrigation plan changes the countryside, and with it the town.
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