Campillo de Llerena: an Italian war cemetery in the Campina Sur

Set in the open farmland of the Campina Sur, in the south-east of Badajoz province, Campillo de Llerena is a town of around 1,300 people whose fields hold an unusual and moving monument to the 20th century.

A unique military cemetery

A couple of kilometres from the village, at a crossroads of country highways, stands the Italian Cemetery, said to be the only military cemetery of its kind in Extremadura. Here were buried Italian and Spanish soldiers who fell on the nearby Argallen front during the Spanish Civil War. Restored in 2010 and open to visitors, it is a sober and unexpected place of remembrance in this quiet corner of the region.

Sierra and history

The land around the town has been settled since antiquity, with traces of a Roman past and old local legends of a hidden Moorish treasure. To the north rises the Sierra de los Argallanes, a wild area of hunting and birds of prey, while the river Guadamez has been dammed to create a reservoir popular for fishing.

Getting there

Campillo de Llerena sits about 128 kilometres east of Badajoz, between Llerena and Zalamea de la Serena.

Note: this article touches on the Spanish Civil War and is intended as factual local history.