The hidden town

At the dawn of the 20th century, the villages of the Vall de Laguar, in the Marina Alta of Alicante, witnessed with some suspicion the rise of the first buildings of a new settlement that eventually adopted the name of the valley in which it was located. Hidden in the mountains, the Fontilles valley hamlet was soon surrounded by a tall, thick wall and gradually developed into a small town. It was populated by people coming from places they never thought of leaving and to which few were able to return. Over a long century, more than two thousand men, women and children lived in Fontilles. People who had contracted leprosy and had inherited poverty from their families. There they worked and found joy, cared for one another and were cared for, found solace in their suffering and shared their hopes, lost their freedom and fought together to regain it. Like in many other towns, indeed, but united in this case by a common secret that made them different from all the others.