Bembibre’s Botillo Festival had the composer and conductor Cristóbal Halffter as mantenedor. Born in Madrid, but living in Villafranca del Bierzo, he is one of the most outstanding artists of the 50s generation. His work 'Antífona Pascual' had an impact in 1952 and, a year later, he won the National Music Prize with his Piano [...]

Chairman 1982

Chairman 1981

In 1980, Bembibre’s Botillo Festival had lawyer Santos Cascallana as chairman of the eighth edition of the event. Born in Quilós (Cacabelos), Santos Cascallana is Doctor in Law from the University of Oviedo and lecturer at the Labour University of Seville, where he lived for much of his life. He was awarded and named Favourite [...]

Chairman 1979

Chairman 1978

Manuel Fraga Iribarne was the star of the fifth edition of Bembibre’s Botillo Festival. According to the Historical Memory of Bembibre’s Botillo Festival, written by Manuel Olano, who wrote: “despite the fact that all eyes were on his speech, he fled from politics to praise Botillo and extolling the good use of pork meat.” In [...]

Lawyer and politician, José María Suárez González became mayor of León in 1976. And he was one of the ambassadors of the Bembibre’s National Festival for the Exaltation of Botillo in its origins, in the fourth edition. In Bembibre he did not overlook the dependence on coal, at a moment when the town was "the [...]

Afrodisio Ferrero Pérez was born in Bercianos del Páramo in 1936. He studied Law at the Complutense University, which he would later complete with Journalism and Sociology. With this extensive training, Aphrodisio became lawyer, journalist, sociologist; but also writer and politician. In fact, he was attorney too in the Cortes of Castilla y León since [...]

Antonio Díaz Carro’s name is bound to Botillo. He was a lawyer, secretary of the León Chamber of Commerce and, especially, a scholar and expert on Bembibre's historical past.