The Dalt Vila or high town is the origin of Ibiza Town, though there’s not much left from the Phoenician colony that settled here over 2600 year ago. With the cathedral in its center it’s foremost a medieval city in plan and organization.

With all the different nations sailing by and the strategic position of Ibiza, there’s always been an emphasis on defense. The town has developed in a chaotic way around the castle and the church, the traditional centers of power. Additions were made when needed and terrain conditions allowed. And of course each time the wall had to be expanded.

The Italian engineers Juan Baptista Calvi and Jacobo Paleazo Fratin constructed the present day wall in the XVIth century according to the Renaissance conception of defense. It’s not as high as the medieval walls had been and much thicker and thus adapted to the new way of warfare using cannons and mortars to breakdown a defense wall. The walls consist of seven bastions armed with artillery, connected by defensive walls. The bastions are placed forward so they could defend the walls in-between. Inside you can still find remains of the medieval walls, arranged in four adjacent areas, each on a different level and easy to recognize.

Most traditional sights can be found within the walls of Dalt Vila. This is the place you should start your cultural and historical exploration of Ibiza’s past.