Chipiona, Cádiz
| Chipiona | ||
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| Municipality | ||
Coast of Chipiona with the lighthouse at background
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.png) Location of Chipiona |
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 Chipiona
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| Coordinates: 36°44′N 6°26′W / 36.733°N 6.433°WCoordinates: 36°44′N 6°26′W / 36.733°N 6.433°W | ||
| Country |
 Spain
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| Autonomous community |
 Andalusia
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| Province | Cádiz | |
| Comarca | Bajo Guadalquivir | |
| Commonwealth | Municipios del Bajo Guadalquivir | |
| Government | ||
| • Alcalde | Antonio Peña Izquierdo | |
| Area | ||
| • Total | 32.92 km2 (12.71 sq mi) | |
| Elevation | 4 m (13 ft) | |
| Population (2012) | ||
| • Total | 18,849 | |
| • Density | 570/km2 (1,500/sq mi) | |
| Demonym(s) | Chipionero, ra | |
| Time zone | CET (UTC+1) | |
| • Summer (DST) | CEST (UTC+2) | |
| Postal code | 11550 | |
Chipiona is a town and municipality located on the Atlantic coast in the province of Cádiz, Spain. According to the 2012 census, the city has a population of 18,849 inhabitants, but this amount increases greatly during the summer holiday period. The town covers an area of 33 km². Being in the lower valley of the River Guadalquivir it is very flat with a maximum terrestrial height of 4 metres. It is bordered on the north-west by Sanlúcar de Barrameda and on the south-east by the port of Rota.
It is the town of birth of singer Rocío Jurado and where her body now rests.
Chipiona is also home to the tallest lighthouse in Spain and the third tallest lighthouse in Europe. The town is also well known for several varieties of Moscatel.
According to the geographers Strabo (Strabo, III, 1, 9) and Pomponius Mela (Mela, III, 4), of Ancient Greece and Rome respectively, a lighthouse existed at the mouth of the Guadalquivir River called Turris Caepionis. This was probably because it was built on the orders of the Roman Consul Quintus Servilius Caepion or his successors. The lighthouse marked a dangerous place for shipping and the opening of a navigable river, the Guadalquivir. Chipiona takes its name from the Roman Consul Caepion.
This area has also been identified as the site of the legendary Ars Gerionis, the tomb of Geryon, which stood at the end of a narrow cape that jutted into the sea, probably in what is now a reef known as the Stone of Salmedina, near Salmedina, or just Salmedina. These claims are based solely on the evidence of the literature and Roman archaeological findings dating from the second century B.C.
Legend relates that the disciples of St. Augustine in Africa, fleeing the invasion of the Vandals, came by sea to Chipiona with the image of the Virgin of Regla. Tombstones have been found near the Shrine of Our Lady of Regla from the time of the Visigoths. After the islamization of the Iberian Peninsula in 711, according to tradition, the hermits hid the image in a cistern about thirty paces from the citadel, now a monastery. The picture remained hidden in a religious of the Order of St. Augustine until it was found in the 14th century, according to legend, following a revelation from heaven. A Shrine to Our Lady of Regla was built around the cistern.
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Wikipedia