History

The older of the two houses that today form La Posada Regia is a traditional Leonese dwelling whose construction is documented to the 14th century, with the building's history pointing to the year 1370 — nearly seven centuries of continuous use, as the León heritage feature in Leonoticias notes. The house was raised directly on the line of León's old wall, beside what was the Conde Luna palace, and one of the wall's defensive cubes (towers) survives within the complex, perfectly reconstructed and fitted with a large glazed window that serves as a lookout. In the 18th century a neighbouring house was annexed to the original structure, and the second of the two main buildings dates from the 19th century, bracketing León's centuries of greatest importance. Marcos Vidal Suárez acquired the property in 1997 and carried out a comprehensive restoration, turning it into both a wine cellar (bodega) and an inn (posada); the two buildings were thoroughly restored, with the works completed in 2008. The owners deliberately exploited the differing architecture of the two houses, exposing original timber beams in some rooms and stripping plaster back to brick or stone in others, so that the fabric of the medieval and later structures remains visible. The restaurant, Bodega Regia — a business whose hospitality lineage goes back to 1956 — occupies the oldest part of the building, where the wall cube and the earliest masonry can be seen.