Orson Welles: Etched into the history of Ronda

'Aman is not from where he is born, but where he chooses to die," claimed legendary film producer Orson Welles. Although he died in Hollywood, Welles had made it clear that he wanted his ashes to be taken to Ronda, the town for which he had a lifelong affection, and 18 months after his death in 1985, his family fulfilled his wish. During a ceremony attended by his daughter Beatrice, the ashes of the man with peculiar curiosity for life, and a love of wine, food and fine cigars, were placed in a well in the grounds of a property owned by bullfighter extraordinaire Antonio Ordóñez. A small honorary plaque has the words: Ronda, to the teacher of teachers.

The Ordóñez family had a deep friendship with Welles, forged from the filmmaker's fondness for bullfighting and he was a regular visitor to their home.

It was his love of Ronda, in particular, its bullfight tradition, that prompted the council to ensure that he would be forever remembered in the town. In 2015 a bronze bust of Welles was installed on the walkway that also bears his name, Paseo de Orson Welles, just a short walk from the bullring where he spent many afternoons. Welles' love affair with Andalucía began at the age of 12, when he visited the region for the first time accompanied by his father, who was a close friend of bullfighter Juan Belmonte. It was Belmonte's virtuosity in the bullring that planted the seeds for the youngster's fascination with the bulls. He returned to Andalucía in the early 1930s with the intention of becoming a bullfighter, earning a meagre salary as a writer while receiving classes to perfect his technique, although this was an ambition that lasted just a few months: the amateur bullfights in which he participated are said to have demonstrated his inexperience.

However, he maintained his passion for the bullfight for the remainder of his life and his name has been etched into Ronda's bullfight tradition.