The Monteverde house is a building with a late renaissance façade that was built in the late 17th century. It has always belonged to the Monteverdes, a family of Italian merchants who settled in the 17th century in La Orotava and in other points of the islands such as Las Palmas and La Laguna.

They never lost their connection to Italy, and from there they imported the tradition of flower carpets in the mid-19th century. Three women of the Monteverde family designed geometric shapes with wine barrel rings that they filled with flower petals to honour the passage of the Corpus Christi procession. The original design of this first flower carpet is the one that appears in the glass window in front of this house, and in the Homage to the Flower Carpet Maker sculpture. Today, the entire Corpus Christi procession is covered with flower carpets made by the people of La Orotava.

Right next to where you are, you can see Lercaro house on the same pavement. This late 17th-century manor house was originally linked to the Ponte family, descendants of a Genoese banker who invested in the conquest. Since the land distribution, his heirs have held the noble title of Marquises of Quinta Roja.

This building was originally a private house. Due to its large size, its original use was subsequently combined with a warehouse and even a tobacco drying house.

A standout feature is the carpentry work, especially on the four balconies. Look at the sgraffito designs that frame the doors and windows. Sgraffito is a decoration technique that creates a sense of volume, using two successive layers to reveal patterns by scratching through the surface layer.

This property includes a disused mill, the last of a line of them up the street, along the water channel that flowed here. From this point, the water was used to irrigate the farming plots. At the end of the 19th century, a tannery that supplied La Orotava’s shoe and hat makers operated in the back of this house.

Continue a little further up until you reach number 1 on Calle Colegio. You’ll find the highest point of this route there: the former Jesuit school. Cross over to Calle Rodapalla to see it better.