Vitoria

Vitoria has grown dramatically since the 1980s when it became the seat of the regional Basque government. Founded by royal charter (Sancho el Sabio of Navarre) in the mid C12th on the site of a small hamlet called Gasteiz, Vitoria’s role was to hold the frontier with Castile. The city then continued to grow in size (ref: monumental architecture) and importance (e.g., during the Napoleonic wars).