A bullfighter of dynasty, his father was El Niño de la Palma. The extraordinary style in ring, purist, aesthetically faultless and one of the most important bullfighters of the 20th century.

Antonio Ordóñez (Ronda, Malaga, 1932 - Seville, 1998)

Promoter of the Goyescas bullfight in the Ronda bullring, property of the Real Maestranza de Caballería, and a good friend of well-known people like Ernest Hemingway and Orson Welles, whose ashes were scattered around the Ronda estate of El Recreo, owned by the Ordóñez family. His grandchildren, Francisco and Cayetano Rivera Ordóñez, continue with the bullfighting legacy.

Seven chest passes and an eagles nest, or Siete pases de pecho y nido de águilas

Ronda alta y honda, rotunda/ profunda, redonda y alta (Juan Ramón Jiménez)


In the River Hondo

Antonio Ordóñez was born in the shade of the Ronda bullring, built of stone (1785). It's a bullring like no other; it's a bullring for bullfighters, made famous by the Romero dynasty: Francisco, pioneer of the 'toreo a pie con muletilla' (1726) and Pedro (1754) related to nobility and the dynasty of the Ordóñez, to Cayetano (1904-1961), better known as El Niño de la Palma and his son Antonio Ordóñez. The bullfighter was brought up in this Ronda of bullfighters, peering over the tajo del río Guadalevín (Hondo River in Arabic) where the eagles nest which lazily glide through some of the oldest cities in Spain. In this bullring, the small child, Antonio Ordóñez gave his first 'lances de salón'. Cayetano, his father, a master.

"… And in the sunlight, it looked like the most beautiful city in the world” (Juan Goytisolo)

Al-Andaluz Ronda

Antonio Ordóñez has memories of flying over the medina of the old Al-Andaluz, with remains of fortified walls, churches over mosques, narrow winding streets, small squares and alleyways which did not seem to have a way out But just like the rest of the Ordóñez family, he liked the countryside, the hills that rolled to the mountains like undulating waves of barley, reaching the ruins of Acinipo, known as Ronda la Vieja, riding along old Roman roads at dusk to get back to the city, along Puente Nuevo, built by Martín Aldehuela in the late 18th century, with the ringing of the bells from the Santa María la Mayor playing the evensong, which is now one of the most beautiful examples of the Renaissance Malaga.

"From the flint mountains / the olive trees on the hill / and the ironwork / on the balconies in Ronda” (Polos by Moreno Galván for the voice of the flamenco singer José Meneses)

Bandoleros and Carmen, from Ronda

When Cayetano finished the pen for the wild cattle, he used to take his son Antonio out to discover the mountains that hid bandits and smugglers, between the ochre coloured oak trees. Wading through the backwaters, he would tell him stories by the Romantic writers that had come from afar, who would loose their senses trying to get close to Carmen who glossed Prosper Mérimée, the dark skinned girl from Ronda with amazing black eyes, a graceful figure and a knife in her garter belt. These stories flowed effortlessly as the horses' hooves struck sparks of fire from the flints along the way, climbing the hills that sheltered the Moors, known as Monfíes, the rebels of a rebellious people.

"Ronda bullring/the bullring of the macho bullfighters” (Fernando Villalón)

Five jet-black bulls, at five in the afternoon

During the Pedro Romero festivities in September, when summer comes to an end, the bullring (1785) hosts the corrida goyesca, a bullfighting invention by Antonio Ordóñez. "Kings and princes come here on a pilgrimage, singers and treasuries of the state, lively girls and snobby ladies, with their shawl and hair comb, red lips like two bursting carnations, with Ordóñez as maestrante a pie in this wood and stone ring, bordering the ravine…(” Death in the afternoon. Ernest Hemingway).

In the largest bullfight

that was ever held in Ronda la Vieja.

Five jet-black bulls

with green and black ribbons”.

(Mariana Pineda. Federico García Lorca)

"And the fair; horse hooves and high-flying horsemen, children from Ronda on painted ponies…” (Federico García Lorca). Stalls where you can have a glass of fino and at night the Cante Grande festival, in memory of Diego El Gastor and aunt Anica Amaya, that "old gypsy with the leathery face dressed in black" (José Carlos Luna).

"How well Ronda turned out/when Ronda was/city, market and neighbourhood/ and the three bridges in the middle” (Polo by the flamenco singer José Meneses)


The most beautiful in Spain

Antonio Ordóñez said that the historic quarter of Ronda, with the bullfighting bullring, is one of the most beautiful in Spain, with a Moorish mark in every corner. With its old town to the south of the Tajo, remains of the fortress, walls and gates, such as the Almocábar (cemetery), the Arco del Cristo and Puerta de los Molinos and the Mondragón Palace which was home to the last Moorish mayor, Hamet Zegrí. The city is Mudejar, Gothic and Renaissance, with three bridges, the Arab baths and the twisted streets of the old bazaar, full of life, which the bullfighter walked through with papa Ernesto, which was the name that Antonio Ordóñez gave to Hemingway.

Ronda was my place of birth/ and it was my mountain mother/which is why I have/no bad feelings towards it" (Rondeña)

In the shade of the oak tree

Although he was buried in Seville, Antonio Ordóñez had another life on the El Recreo estate, the quiet, almost palacial life, in touch with nature and surrounded by animals. This was the place that American film director Orson Welles, a great friend of the bullfighter, a lover of the good life, the bullfighting world, singing and dancing, asked his friend to spread his ashes when he died, between olive and holm trees, between cork and Jacaranda. And so it was. Various museums tell the story of Ronda, recreating the story of one of Andalusia's most beautiful towns . Antonio Ordoñez, Ronda and Serrano his spirit wanders this land in which he was born.

Places of the master Antonio Ordóñez

Magical date with history: Roman, Moorish and Christian, Ronda still has links to its past:

Walk 1

Puente Viejo-Puente Nuevo - Steep cliff over the Guadalavín - Real Maestranza bullring. Islamic quarter (today the San Miguel neighbourhood), Culebras stream - Arab baths.

Walk 2

Fuente de los Ocho Caños Fountain - Posada de las Ánimas (Miguel de Cervantes) - Church of Nuestro Señor Padre Jesús- Madre de Dios Convent.

Walk 3

Cueva de La Pileta Cave - Acinipo - Ronda Mountains (Benaoján, Jimena de Libar, Atajate, Alpandeire) - Pinsapar de la Sierra de las Nieves.

Walk 4

Bullfighting bullring - Bullfighting Museum of the Real Maestranza - Joaquín Peinado museum (Moctezuma Palace).

Walk 5

Casa del Rey Moro - Felipe V arch - Virgen de la Paz Church - Casa del Gigante - Minaret of San Sebastián - Church of Santa María la Mayor - Church of the Espíritu Santo - Puerta de Almocabar Door.

To enjoy a festival

The world of bulls has always been linked to the art of having a a glass of fino, savouring an excellent ham and enjoying a yema de Santa Teresa with a Palo cortado. Antonio Ordóñez knew all about that. Here are some suggestions to rest your mind and body during walks, in the historic quarter where there are numerous bars, taverns and restaurants which honour the powerful gastronomy, pure glory for hungry stomachs.

Start with some grilled vegetables with a touch of chestnut and pumpkin and a plate of ham or local sausages, and the black pudding is the local star. All washed down with some amazing wine lovingly produced by the Ronda Bodegas.

You'll have to leave room for some migas with chorizo, gachas with coscurrones, Ronda country rabbit, fried lamb or a creamy oxtail.

In Ronda time has stood still since Antonio Ordóñez took his cape off and let out a long "olé". Time for talking, commenting on what you've seen, eating yemas de Santa Teresa, some cuernos de gacela pastries and a long sip of wine from Málaga.