In Icod de los Vinos, the former House of the Inquisition will become a wine museum.

The town of Icod de los Vinos has never had a place to tell the story of its winemaking, even though it was named in the 16th century precisely because of wine.

But that will soon change! One entrepreneur has decided to turn the former House of the Inquisition into a wine museum. He wants to create a real House-Museum of Wine there.

The building is located on Arcipreste Ossuna Street, near Dragon Park. It is already several centuries old and needs renovation. "The project is ready, it has been approved, and it cost a lot," says Pablo Payllouf, who bought the house a few years ago. It was not easy to negotiate with the previous owners, as some of them lived as far away as Madrid.

Payllouf already has ideas on how to arrange everything. In the courtyard, he wants to put a wooden grape press, downstairs there will be a wine cellar with barrels, and upstairs there will be old winemaking tools: implements, crushers and presses.

Thus, the former residence of the inquisitors will not only be preserved as part of the city's history, but will also get a new life dedicated to wine.

According to legend, it was in this building that "the first investigations of crimes against the Catholic faith in Icod and the surrounding area were conducted," explains researcher Miguel Edmundo Delgado López.

An inquisitor lived here who dealt with cases of witchcraft, Jews, Freemasons, and everything that contradicted the church and the authorities. Detainees were interrogated in this house, and then, if there was evidence of guilt, they were sent to Las Palmas, where the main court of the Inquisition was located. Delgado adds that the court in Icod "was founded around 1668, when the city had 700 inhabitants."

Many residents of Icod worked in this institution, and many cases were heard here, including the trial of the witch Ana Domínguez and María Rosario, who was called "La Clacas". They were also tried for events that took place in the neighboring town of Garachico.

According to Delgado, the old name of the street, Calle Cruz Verde, is proof that the building was the headquarters of the Inquisition. "This is confirmed by a document about the celebration in Icod on the occasion of the return of Fernando VII after his exile from France." "Green Crosses" were a symbol of the Spanish Inquisition.

But this is not the only building that the entrepreneur plans to restore. The Alvarez de Tavora family house, built in the 17th century, located opposite Pila Square, will become a boutique hotel with ten rooms.

Downstairs there will be a coffee museum, because coffee used to be grown here. Payllouf wants to revive this tradition and plant coffee trees on a neighboring plot. The rest of the coffee trees will be planted on the Las Canales farm, where there will be about 4,500 seedlings.

This house does not require complicated repairs, as it was inhabited until recently and is well preserved.

The new hotel will have ten rooms, and the furniture and wooden floors will be preserved. The start of work depends on the permission of the local authorities, as the building is protected as a historical monument. Payllouf plans that the work will take about two years. He has always been fascinated by the restoration of old buildings. "I get an idea, and then I work with an architect who implements it," he says. All these projects are his "madness", and they are not without difficulties. The biggest problem is bureaucracy, but he believes that everything will be resolved.