Santiponce Itálica

Heritage

An immense legacy waiting to be discovered

Municipal Market

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As early as the Middle Ages, the Plaza de Abastos (Market Square) of Ecija was the social, political and economic centre of the area. Trade took place from various portable stalls that sold bread, fruit, milk, vegetables and soap. Vinegar, wine and imported wheat were sold at the corn exchange in the Main Square, and other products in Calle de la Caza, where the fish shops and the royal butcher's were located, built at the end of the aforementioned period to centralise the city's supplies. Apart from that, certain streets were the headquarters for other tradesmen such as haberdashers, silversmiths, spice merchants and saddlers.

For three centuries the square was used as a market and a leisure area for the townsfolk. It was in 1843 when a group of citizens of Ecija, led by the Marquis of Arenal, created the Sociedad de Fomento (Development Society), with the sole purpose of building a marketplace. The site chosen to build the marketplace was the area occupied by the old monastery, school and church of San Fulgencio, which belonged to the Society of Jesus and was taken over by the Town Council due to the poor condition of the buildings. Thus, the marketplace was built in 1844 leading to the abolition of the itinerant market system more typical of medieval times.

Nowadays, the market is managed by the Ecija Town Council and the traders are members of the Ecija Market Traders Association. 

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