Sombrerete

Sombrerete grew from a 1550s silver strike on the Camino Real de Tierra Adentro - the royal road whose route UNESCO listed - and its wealth is legible in stone: an unusually dense group of Spanish-era churches for a town this size, built in pink and honey cantera with carved baroque facades. San Francisco's convent complex, the parish church, Santo Domingo with its Capilla de la Purisima, and the hillside sanctuary of Vera Cruz form the circuit, and several keep gilded retablos and painted ceilings that reward the entry ritual of finding whoever holds the key. The plaza and portales handle the rest of the day, with regional sweets, cheeses and the town's asado de boda - a wedding stew of pork in chile - as the local plate. Above it all rises the Cerro de la Sombreretilla, the little hat-shaped hill that gave the town its name and offers a climb for the view over the valley. The Sierra de Organos national park lies twenty minutes north, which makes the natural pairing for a full day.

History

The earliest known culture of the region, the Chalchihuites, farmed here from the late Preclassic to about 900 AD and then left for reasons still debated, after which the nomadic Chichimecas held the area. In 1555, nine years after finding silver at Zacatecas, Juan de Tolosa came with a small group of Spaniards and allied indigenous people in search of more and settled by a spring, naming the place after a nearby hill that Friar Jerónimo de Mendoza thought looked like a three-cornered hat. The San Mateo monastery was founded in 1567 as the region's main mission centre, the mines soon produced gold, silver, lead, tin and mercury, and by 1570 the settlement had become the town of Villa de Llerena, one of the most important in New Spain. In 2010 its historic centre became part of the Camino Real de Tierra Adentro World Heritage Site, and in 2012 it was named a Pueblo Mágico (Wikipedia, Sombrerete).

What you'll find

• The church circuit - baroque facades and gilded interiors.
• Vera Cruz sanctuary - the hillside pilgrimage church.
• The Sombreretilla - the hat hill and its viewpoint.
• The portales - plaza arcades, sweets and asado de boda.

When to go

October to April for mild days; church interiors open irregularly, so mornings and Sunday mass times give the best chance of seeing them.

Things to know

Several churches are locked between services - ask at the parish or the tourism office. The town is quiet and services are modest. It sits high; nights are cold most of the year.

Nearby

The Sierra de Organos park is twenty minutes north; Zacatecas city and Durango bracket the highway.

Key facts