Google maps marks it as a "ghost town", because Matandrino has been, for 60 years, an uninhabited town . But it was not always so, its collapsed houses today tell its story, that of a town or neighborhood (depending on how you look at it) that was inhabited by 45 neighbors, about 9 houses.
Matandrino It is mentioned for the first time in the fifteenth century as Mata Endrino, surely referring to the presence of Blackthorns in the area, a bush whose fruit is used to make pacharán. Around the 19th century, it already had 7 houses, and in the middle of the last century, had 40 neighbors who over the years ended up leaving the place . The corrals that can still be seen among its ruins show that it was a small nucleus in which there was livestock.
Prádena, the charm of rural Segovia.
This Segovian village is located a few meters from Prádena , where some 500 people live today, but was left uninhabited between the 1950s and 1960s due to lack of electricity and water, and poor access. The last of her neighbors left in 1963 on the recommendation of her doctor… It has rained since then!
Benito Matesanz , its owner, bought it before the 2008 crisis with the intention of building an urbanization, a rural hotel and even a bullring. Last year he decided to put it up for sale on the Thousand Ads platform, and now on Idealista, where you can buy for 100,000 euros . His are about 12 houses, 75% of the town , tells it in the newspaper El Día de Segovia.
“I had money at that time, I liked it and I did it with enthusiasm. But I'm already retired and I think it's best to sell it now. People have come to see it and have wanted to rent or buy from house to house, but for me that is not profitable”, underlines its owner in an interview, who points out, is open to negotiate its price.
Ghost town or rural gem?
WHY BUY MATANDRINO
"A village in Segovia is for sale for less than many flats," reads the Idealista ad. But why should you buy this town?
Matandrino is very close to well-known municipalities such as Sepúlveda or Pedraza. It is a village located in a beautiful valley, where the main activity has always been agriculture (especially barley, wheat and oats) and livestock (cows and sheep), This is how the blog The Uninhabited Towns explains it.
“Together with other neighborhoods such as Peña Corva, El Villar and Pradenilla, Matandrino was the greatest of them all . In total, 5,000 m2 that are available (75% of the total of the village) for less money than many flats in Madrid: 100,000 euros. It is a perfect area to build a rural tourism complex ”, they add from the Idealista.
In addition, Matandrino, Despite being an uninhabited town, it has festivals. They were celebrated -the last one was in 2019- on May 7. During that day, the residents of Prádena, who had had some connection with the town, they went upstairs to make lamb stew and celebrated a mass in the open air.
“Matandrino is still alive thanks to those who lived in this town-neighborhood and their descendants. In 2016 they recovered the celebration of the Cruz de Mayo festival and recovered the pilgrimage that was held in Matandrino for decades. Julián, Faustino, Susana... were some of the promoters of this initiative, which in 2019, the last year that could be celebrated , brought together almost 300 people in the 'caldereta'", they explain on Segovia Day.