Fuendetodos

Francisco de Goya was born in Fuendetodos in 1746, in a modest stone house belonging to his mother's family, and spent his early childhood there before the family moved to Zaragoza. The house was identified in the 1910s by the painter Ignacio Zuloaga, who bought and restored it; it is furnished simply to the period rather than with original contents. Beside it, an engraving museum holds complete sets of Goya's four great print series, the Caprichos, the Disasters of War, the Tauromaquia and the Disparates, which is the substantial part of the visit and unusual to see together. Fuendetodos is a small village on the dry Zaragoza plateau with around a hundred and fifty residents and little else.

What you actually see

• The birth house - a modest stone dwelling furnished to the period.
• The four print series - complete sets of Goya's Caprichos and other suites.
• The engraving museum - the technique and context of the prints explained.
• The village - a small settlement on the dry Zaragoza plateau.

When to go

April to June and September to November; the plateau is severely hot in summer and cold in winter. The museum closes on Mondays and keeps a midday break, and visits to the house are on set hours.

Honest expectations

The house contains nothing of Goya's and is a reconstruction of a period interior. The village has almost no services. The prints are the reason to make the drive, and they are in low light for conservation.

Nearby

Zaragoza lies forty-four kilometres north; Belchite's ruined village is east.