Llerena is part of the historic route promoted by cyclist Tono Chamorro, whose goal is to create an itinerary that connects the four most important orders of medieval Spain.

It is a 650-km adventure that its founder—an amateur cyclist and history enthusiast—is already undertaking. He is also the creator of the renowned Camins de l’Orde de Montesa route, considered one of the most outstanding cycling tourism routes in the Valencian Community. The route crosses the country from east to west, following in the footsteps of the four great military-religious orders of medieval Spain: Montesa, Calatrava, Alcántara, and Santiago.

This route connects such iconic locations as Montesa (Valencia), Calatrava la Vieja (Ciudad Real), Zalamea de la Serena, and Llerena. It combines sports, heritage, history, and cultural tourism, highlighting some of the most significant sites from our past.

Upon his arrival in Llerena, Tono Chamorro was welcomed by the First Deputy Mayor and Councilwoman for Tourism, Mª Dolores Millán Enamorado, and by the Councilman for Sports, Sergio Rodríguez Millán.

Llerena’s connection to the Order of Santiago runs so deep that it would be impossible to understand the history, urban layout, and splendor of our city without this order. The political, cultural, and economic dominance imposed by the Order of Santiago is the main reason Llerena boasts the incredibly rich historical and artistic heritage it preserves today, according to historian Manuel Maldonado Fernández in his article “The District of Llerena: Origin and Evolution until the End of the Old Regime” (published in the Proceedings of the 4th History Conference, Llerena, 2004).

Llerena was the capital and the most important administrative and judicial center of the so-called Province of León of the Order of Santiago in Extremadura.

During the 14th and 15th centuries, the Grand Masters of the Order of Santiago (the institution’s highest authority) chose Llerena as their usual place of temporary residence and center of operations in the southwestern part of the Iberian Peninsula. The last Grand Master before the Order was definitively incorporated into the Crown of Spain, Don Alonso de Cárdenas, resided and governed from Llerena and, in fact, was buried in the Church of Santiago, a church he himself had commissioned to be built as his own mausoleum.