The lovely Plaza Vázquez de Molina is the monumental heart of Úbeda's old town and the perfect place to start exploring. An early case of Andalucian urban redevelopment, the plaza took on its present aspect in the 16th century when Úbeda's nobility decided to demolish existing buildings to make way for an assemblage of grand Renaissance buildings befitting their wealth and importance.
Before 1507, the nobility had resided in Úbeda's Alcázar, a fortress-walled area immediately south of Plaza Vázquez de Molina, but this was demolished on Queen Isabel la Católica's orders to defuse power struggles involving the town's quarrelsome aristocrats.