OUR HISTORY

AUBOCASSA

Albocàsser is a magnificent paradigm of the Majorcan possessió, where history, heritage and farming are combined in an exemplary manner.

The property dates back to the Andalusian rule of the island (902-1229 CE) when it received its current name. The place name albocàsser comes from the Arab Albu-Kasi, which means ‘father of Kasi’. After the Catalan-Aragonese conquest it was part of the portion that went the Count of Rossellón, Nunó Sanç.

It then passed through several owners, including the Andreu family of Manacor, who had it in the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries. They also owned other possessions (properties) in the municipality, including Son Pere Andreu, Son Jaume Andreu, Son Perot Andreu, Es Pou Nou, Es Bessons, L’Hort dels Magallons and Alqueria Diana.

Like many other estates on the island, the property went from local hands to the high nobility in the capital, first being owned by the Despuigs and later by the Verís. The former built the Renaissance chapel that rises before the house, one of the most interesting rural oratories on the island. In addition to the typical ornamentation of the period, it also features the Despuig coat of arms.

It was under the ownership of the Verís that the farm attained the highest levels of agricultural exploitation, with wine production as the key business. At the time, Albocàsser also included the neighbouring possessions of Son Joan Jaume, Son Ameret and Son Gener. In 1818, the property was appraised at 14,590 pounds and, in 1865, it had a surface area of about 850 quarteradas (604 hectares).

In the early twentieth century, the Fuster Puigdorfila family and, later, the financier Joan March Ordines, divided it into different properties.

The tenants, the Oliver family of Sant Joan, acquired it later, remaining the owners for a good part of the last century. One of the family members, Joan Oliver, was a renowned man of letters and signed his works as ‘Joan d’Albocàsser’.

Historical documents show that the possessió was subjected to planned, intensive farming: cattle and sheep, garden produce for in–house consumption, extensive cereal crops and a profitable vineyard, from which wine was produced in the house. Numerous groups of peasants from the area (not only from Manacor, but also from Felanitx) came to the estate to work it and benefit from its resources.

Furthermore, the possessió preserves architectural evidence of its long history: medieval remains, a Renaissance chapel (one of the most outstanding in the Majorcan countryside, appearing in documents dating back to the fourteenth century), a spectacular winery, extensive farmland, etc.

Albocàsser is, after all, a magnificent example of the rural history of Majorca with a great future.