Autillo del Pino- provincia de Palencia M3 - 2026
Autillo de Campos lies in the province of Palencia, in the flat, open landscape of Tierra de Campos, beside the Valdeginate and close to the Canal de Castilla. Its traditional architecture is largely modest and agricultural, using adobe, brick and timber, with farmhouses and outbuildings clustered around the substantial sixteenth-century church of Santa Eufemia, completed in 1598 and containing an impressive retablo, choir and baptismal font. The surrounding countryside is devoted mainly to cereal cultivation and livestock, while the traditional underground bodegas found throughout this part of Palencia reflect the region’s long association with small-scale wine production and rural life. What makes Autillo particularly interesting is the contrast between its quiet agricultural character and its remarkable place in Spanish history: it was here in 1217 that Fernando III was proclaimed king of Castile, an event that ultimately led to the union of the crowns of Castile and León.
We drove to Autillo del Pino to visit the mirador overlooking the Tierra de Campos. The views from the top were spectacular, stretching across the vast plain to both north and south. Below us, the sunflower fields were beginning to fade at the end of their season, their colour softened but still striking against the broad, open landscape. What particularly caught our attention, though, were the curious little chimneys poking through the ground around the village. We discovered that these were the ventilators of old private bodegas, traditionally excavated into the earth where individual farmers made and stored their own wine. They are a small but fascinating reminder of the agricultural life that has shaped this otherwise immense and seemingly empty landscape.
