Santiponce Itálica


An immense legacy waiting to be discovered

Town Hall - Palace of the Counts of Vistahermosa


The building where the municipal offices are currently located is an excellent example of the stately houses that proliferated Utrera throughout the 18th century.

In the late 17th century, the mansion that would later become the palace of the Counts of Vistahermosa already belonged to a wealthy aristocrat. In the 18th century, the palace was owned by Pedro Luis Ulloa-Celis, Count of Vistahermosa, and a famous breeder of fighting bulls, who carried out extensive renovations to the mansion, including the majestic portal.

María Luisa Ulloa, sister and heiress of the 3rd Count of Vistahermosa, sold the building to the aristocrat Simón Gibaxa in 1841. After Gibaxa’s death in 1860, the property was inherited by Enrique de la Cuadra, who upgraded the mansion to include the amenities demanded by the wealthy bourgeoisie at the time. It combined avant-garde elements, such as iron and glass, with other more historicist and romantic materials, such as marble, tiles and wood. They were masterfully used to decorate its rooms: Pompeian, Mirror or Arab, Chinese or German Renaissance.

Over the years, the mansion became a beautiful palace with an intense social life with grand celebrations, meetings and parties attended by celebrities. The building was further expanded with the construction of the so-called “summer house”. Spectacular rooms were distributed around a new beautiful garden. Worthy of note is the impressive Arab Room, of Nasrid inspiration, built in 1882. The Palace of the Marquises of Vistahermosa has been the seat of the Utrera Town Hall since 1939.


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