old town of Cáceres

Few traces remain in Cáceres of the Roman colony of Norba Caesarina, though the Arco de Cristo, the eastern gate, still has Roman ashlars of the 1st century. The Roman wall was heavily reworked by the Moors, who made the town a fortress called Qasri. In the 12th century the geographer al-Idrisi considered it the main bridgehead against the Christians.

After losing and retaking the town several times in the wars of the 12th century, the Almohads built new fortifications with towers set out from the wall. Of the 30 or so towers from the Muslim period, the best known is the Torre del Bujaco, whose name is a phonetic rendering of Abu Yacub. Alfonso IX of León took the town for good in 1229, and settlers from Asturias, Galicia and Castile moved in.

In the 14th century the hidalgos dotted the town with fortified houses and towers, and from 1312 it was the stage for power struggles between rival clans. The Catholic Monarchs had most of the towers torn down but spared a few, among them the Palace of the Storks. In the 16th century men returning from the Americas added palaces, such as the one built in 1548 by Francisco de Godoy, who had served with Pizarro in Peru. The old town was inscribed in 1986.