History
History
Riudabella origins date back to the Neolithic period (IV-V millennium BC.), Severals prehistoric, Iberian and Roman founds in the surrounding area do demonstrate this.
Ponç II of Cervera did reconquer these lands out of the Arabs in 1132, Ramón Berenguer IV, Count of Barcelona, delivered the Fontfreda Abbey in 1150 to found the monastery of Poblet. Riudabella then became one of the most active Cistercian estates in the area. In the fifteenth century, Abbot Delgado did build a retirement house for older monks.
In 1835, with th confiscation of Mendizabal, the monks had to leave Poblet and their property was looted and destroyed.
In 1841 the estate-castle of Riudabella was purchased at auction by Pedro Gil Babot. In 1860 the restoration process began to reach its current walled aspect, under the supervision and management of the heirs of the Gil Moreno de Mora family, which still own the castle today.
