Alhaurín de la Torre

Infobox City | official_name = Alhaurín de la Torre | nickname =

| image_shield = |
| map_caption = Location of Alhaurín de la Torre
subdivision_type = Municipality | subdivision_name = Málaga | leader_title = Mayor | leader_name = Joaquín Villanova (PP)| area_magnitude = 1 E9 | area_total_km2 = 83| area_land_km2 = 83| area_water_km2 = 0.00 | population_as_of = 2006 | population_note =
population_total = 30281| population_density_km2 = 364| timezone = CET | utc_offset = +1 | timezone_DST = CEST | utc_offset_DST = +2 | latitude = 36º 40' N | longitude = 4º 33 W | website = http://www.aytoalhaurindelatorre.com/ | footnotes = |

Alhaurín de la Torre (pop 2006 30,281) is a town in Málaga province in Andalucia, Southern Spain. The town is part of Málaga Metropolitan Area, but traditionally belongs to the Guadalhorce Valley shire.It sits at the entrance to the Guadalhorce valley on the slopes of the Sierra de Mijas mountains, 10.5 miles (17 km) from Málaga city.

Description

The traditional and the modern live comfortably side by side in this town, with its old Moorish-style streets and houses in the Barrio Viejo and the modern housing estates and villas on the outskirts. Alhaurín de la Torre has become a prosperous municipality in which services are the main source of income. It was historically an agrarian village, where citrus and subtropical fruit plantations and olive groves still cover the landscape.

History

The origin of the place goes back to pre-historic times, and it is known that the Phoenicians that set up factories in Málaga and Cártama in about 1,000 B.C. settled in Alhuarín. It was here that Lauro was founded, and centuries later the Romans called it Lauro Vetus. The Moors, in their time, called it Albarracín, and it grew from that into a larger collection of farm-houses. The re-conquest of the town in 1485 meant another variation on the name, and the place was finally called Alhaurín de la Torre. The population increased sharply due to the influx of Christian settlers after 1571. There are many archaeological remains in the municipality, most of them being in the Estación de la Alquería area, officially designated as being of Cultural Interest.

Trivia

The town has become very famous in the media because of its VIP prison inmates implicated in Operation Malaya - many former members of Marbella council are imprisoned there.