Roman Seville had two main settlements, one dating back to the first century BC, around the year 69, when Caesar is thought first to have come to the city. This is the hypothesis of the Republican city. But it must be recalled that the first reference to Rome is in the year 206 BC, when the Battle of llipa was fought and Italica was founded.
The arrival of the Arabs in the year 711 brought about a radical transformation in the entire Peninsula, but especially in the South, which is where they ruled longest. Isbilia (the Arabic name for Seville) would become a flourishing city in the Islamic world, with an Arabic-Andalusian culture. Jews, Christians and several ethnic groups of the Arab world lived peacefully side by side in Isbilia. Mozarabs also appeared as a result of the fusion of cultures.
After the entry of King Ferdinand III into Seville and during the reign of the so-called “wise king” Alfonso X of Castile, the court was established in Seville and lived, under this sensitive, intellectual king, one of the most brilliant epochs of the European Middle Ages. Alfonso surrounded himself with philosophers, jurists, musicians, artists and mathematicians who gave his reign a creative drive that is remembered even today.
Seventeenth-century Seville saw the decadence of trade with the Americas, plague epidemics, poverty and begging. The situation led to the strong surge in religious feeling, the driving force behind this typically Sevillian baroque art. At that time, straight narrow streets were laid out and architects abandoned modest facades in favour of buildings with a more monumental appearance.
And Sevilla nowadays is a beautifull and modern place keeping all the charm of the andalusian cities.
The city is very well communicated: the AVE high-speed train, San Pablo International Airport, motorways and a modern river port which can accommodate cruise liners.
The beauty, magic and mystery of Seville are new to no-one. However, the city, the nearby towns with their monuments and the natural surroundings continue to offer surprises at every event or visit. The charm of traditional Andalusian culture marries with cutting-edge modernity. And so, tourism improvement plans, the inauguration of bike lanes, the underground railway and pedestrianisation are just some of the resources and the decisions taken with a view to the future but which visitors can enjoy today.
Seville and its province are a consolidated destination for business and incentive tourism, for which we have a wide range of traditional and modern resources, supported by an advanced, competitive hotel sector and professionals who are specialised in the different types of service required for the smooth running of any event.
Seville can offer conference halls and a series of modules and multipurpose spaces which, together with the existing large pavilions and conference rooms, means that Seville today has one of the largest, most modern meeting and exhibition centres in Europe.
In addition, newly-opened hotels, the offer of haciendas, farmsteads and town palaces, together with the ongoing professionalisation of their management, make Seville and its province a perfect storehouse of experiences to be used in the organisation of any event.
