Huesca

Huesca keeps a legend severed heads and a kingdom's cradle. In the Romanesque abbey of San Pedro el Viejo — one of Aragon's oldest churches, its cloister capitals a stone bestiary — lie two kings of Aragon, among them Ramiro II the Monk, protagonist of the Bell of Huesca: the monk-king who, mocked by his nobles, summoned them to see a bell "heard throughout the kingdom" and arranged their heads in a circle around it — Aragonese political science, medieval edition, painted and retold ever since. The city was Roman Osca, minted Sertorius's coins, and served as the young kingdom's capital; its Gothic cathedral and the Renaissance town hall keep the upper town's dignity.

Modern Huesca is the Pyrenees' antechamber — Loarre, the most perfect Romanesque castle in Spain, guards the plain nearby, and the high valleys begin at the horizon — with a surprising artistic annexe: the desert hermitage frescoes and the legacy of local film pioneer Segundo de Chomón, honoured in the city's festival culture. The San Lorenzo fiestas dress the town in green each August for its basil-scented patron. The concert record documents the Auditorio Palacio de Congresos, the modern hall carrying the touring symphonic and lyric seasons. A bell rung with heads, a castle on the rim: Huesca tells Aragon plainly.