Engraving published in the Semanario Pintoresco Español, 1859
During the Cordovan Caliphate, our mountains were populated with monasteries. \One of the most famous and remote was that of San Zoilo.
He surname of the Armilatense, because the Armillata River, which today we know by the Arabic name of Guadalmellato, ran at its skirt.
The monastery was destroyed, but in 1394, a century and a half later, after the reconquest of the city of Córdoba, Martín Fernández de Andújar, a silversmith from Córdoba, who lived as a hermit, founded a new convent.
They named him Del Monte and the monastery was named after him.
Filipe IV of Spain visited the monastery in 1624. Today its ruins are perfect for exploring, or for picnicking within its historic grounds.
