Vitoria (Spanish: Vitoria; Basque: Gasteiz; known officially as Vitoria-Gasteiz), is the capital city of the province of Álava and of the autonomous community of the Basque Country in northern Spain. It is the second largest Basque city, after Bilbao.
From an urban point of view, Vitoria is a mid-size city, the line of which is adapted to the traditions of each historical moment. The medieval town is set in almond-shaped around the hill foundation, which by its privileged position as the only elevation in the plain of Alava, became a defensive stronghold coveted by the kingdoms of Navarra and Castilla during the eleventh and twelfth centuries. The walled enclosure is prior to the war between Castile and Navarre, and is due to the work undertaken by the Conde de Alava, bastard son of King Ramiro I of Aragon, in the eleventh century, to defend the village. In the nineteenth and the recognition that the city was being small, an expansion was planned in neoclassical style, and little by little planning for the city was giving Vitoria its current form.
