Ernest Miller Hemingway was born on July 21, 1899, in Oak Park, an affluent suburb west of Chicago. His parents were well educated: his father was a doctor and his mother a musician. When Hemingway discovered Spain in 1923, it became his second home, a place he longed to return to.

Ronda and Malaga are both places where the Nobel Prize winner felt at home. There is a well-preserved photograph from 1959 of Ernest Hemingway attending a bullfight in the Malagueta bullring. It is known that the American was fond of bullfighting and became friends with the bullfighters, including Ronda’s famous son Antonio Ordóñez.

Ernest Hemingway first came to Malaga in 1959 as a journalist to describe the rivalry between two outstanding Spanish matadors – his friend Antonio Ordóñez and Luis Miguel Dominguín (also world famous for his love affairs with Ava Gardner and Rita Hayworth). The rivalry between the two men had already been described by Hemingway in the book “The Dangerous Summer”.

On the Costa del Sol, Ernest Hemingway stayed at La Cónsula, an old 19th-century mansion that once belonged to a Prussian diplomat, but was then owned by Bill Davis and his wife. The Californian couple with whom Hemingway had been in contact in Mexico invited the famous compatriot to stay with them during his trip to the Costa del Sol.

Hemingway’s 60th birthday was celebrated in Churriana. On July 21, 1959, people from all over the world came to this village near Malaga to take part in the celebration. Among the guests were many famous bullfighters.

It is said that fairground stalls were set up and a live orchestra was invited for entertainment. Food was delivered from London and champagne was ordered from France. Some recollections mention that there was plenty of alcohol available, which helped to get the attendees drunk. A donkey was reportedly used by the guests to demonstrate their dressage skills. It is also said that Hemingway tested his marksmanship in the company of Ordóñez, who was holding a cigarette, which the writer tried to shoot out of his hand.

The party is said to have ended with a fireworks display that lit up the sky above Churriana and also set a palm tree on fire, leading to the fire brigade being called to put out the fire. The party was a great success and according to various accounts the event was quite wild. Either way, locals remember it as the craziest thing that ever happened in the village.

Four days after Hemingway’s next birthday, which he spent packing rather than celebrating, on July 25, 1960, the couple left Cuba for good. The following year, their “finca” La Vigía was expropriated by the Cuban government, along with Hemingway’s collection of some 5,000 books. The following year, on July 2, 1961, the writer was found dead with a gunshot wound to the head in his Idaho home. His wife said at the time that the gun must have gone off accidentally while he was cleaning it.