At the beginning of May, the city of Cordova celebrates the Festival of the Patios for 12 consecutive days. The Patios are community, family, or multi-family dwellings or sets of individual houses with their own shared patio, located in the city's historic quarter.
Residents openly welcome visitors to admire the dwelling's beauty as well as the skill involved in their creation. This characteristic cultural space boasts an abundance of plants and flowers. Also found on the patios are traditional songs, flamenco guitar playing, and dancing. Historically sustainable communal coexistence is shared with visitors through affectionate expressions and shared food and drink.
Patios are hidden behind the homes, doors, and walls of the city, and they are privately owned, but for one week of the year they are open to the public, so anyone can come and enjoy them. Since the first patios event in 1918, Cordobesians have been cultivating their patios every day. Since Roman times, the Patios in Cordoba have been a tradition.
Located in a region with extreme temperatures, the Patios required constant care and attention all year around. It is no small feat when you consider the fact that temperatures in Cordoba can exceed 40°C in the summer, and frost can form at night. In order to cope with this harsh climate, early Romans and later Muslims built homes in a particular way.
These houses incorporated a courtyard in the center of the house, creating a cool, shaded space inside the building complex where families would congregate to escape the summer heat and collect rainwater. Muslims were the first to create patios and inner spaces designed to have a sense of freshness. They introduced water features and plants, which actually enhanced the sense of freshness and tranquillity. Some of the temperatures inside the patios were said to be between 10°C - and 15°C cooler than the street outside the house, a difference that was huge during the summer months.
Muslims also placed a great deal of emphasis on the social aspect of patios. They considered the patio to be not only a place of beauty and tranquillity but a place where people could meet and socialize. Every year the festival's hours remain the same, from 11 am to 2 pm and from 6 pm to 10 pm. During the festival, all patios are open for free, though donations are greatly appreciated by the owners, who put the money towards maintaining the patios.