Fresno de Torote, un municipio despoblado en la Comunidad de Madrid

Fresno de Torote gives its name to the municipal district, which also includes the Serracines district, where the residents of this municipality now live, as Fresno itself remains uninhabited. It occupies only two streets and a square, yet it is curious to see the names that have graced this small town, where time has stood still. Its founder was the Marquis of Santillana in the 15th century. Later, the lands passed to various family branches, linked to landowners of the Spanish nobility. The life of its inhabitants, linked to the cultivation of the land (more than 2,000 hectares, mostly cultivated with cereals), has left its mark on the town's buildings: a metal watchtower that was apparently used as a clock to signal the beginning and end of the day and to monitor the laborers, a church... We visited what remains of Fresno de Torote, still privately owned, with Félix, a resident of Serracines who was born in Fresno because his ancestors worked the lands of the various aristocrats who owned this "town."