Zaragoza during San Jorge: Pulling out all the stops

Bullfighting posters Zaragoza San Jorge 2025

Zaragoza has made a strong commitment this April, with four remarkable events that encapsulate the immediate future of this art. The offering is both interesting and striking in one of Spain’s most promising cities. The perfect combination to lose oneself this spring for a few days along the banks of the Ebro.

This April 2025, Zaragoza has truly pulled out all the stops in terms of bullfighting. Not long ago, during these dates, there was barely a single event around the festivity of San Jorge (23rd April). However, this season, taking advantage of the proximity to Holy Week, the company leasing La Misericordia has scheduled up to four events.

Moreover, these four spectacles feature the immediate future of La Tauromaquia (bullfighting). In the two novilladas (bullfights with young bulls) and the two corridas de toros (bullfights with mature bulls) scheduled, several of the most promising names for upcoming seasons will be present. These are bullfighters poised, due to their qualities, to be part of the generational shift about to occur in this art.

Particularly noteworthy are the two novilladas offered, both in the mano a mano (head-to-head) format. The first, on 19th April (Holy Saturday), represents a regional competition between Cristiano Torres and Aarón Palacio, two of the most promising novices from the region. Torres, a bullfighter from a dynasty, exhibits a stern style, with courage and determination as his hallmarks. Palacio, with a more artistic concept, interprets in a suggestive and expressive manner. It’s a duel of contrasts. The young bulls come from the José Cruz ranch.

On Tuesday, 22nd April, with bulls from Montealto, Marco Pérez and Javier Zulueta face off. The former, the latest case of bullfighting precocity, has caught the attention of fans and professionals alike due to his intuition and boldness in front of the animals from a very young age. Zulueta, who already triumphed in this arena during the Feria de El Pilar, belongs to the Sevillian school and feels and executes bullfighting with the values and sentiment of his predecessors.

As the main attraction, on Easter Sunday (20th April) and San Jorge’s Day (Wednesday, 23rd April), two corridas de toros feature young aspirants who have made a name for themselves in this art and are positioned to take over from their elders. The most experienced is Paco Ureña, a well-established bullfighter, who will perform on Easter Sunday alongside Fernando Adrián, the standout of the last San Isidro, and Ginés Marín, a pillar of his generation, who has opened the Puerta Grande of Las Ventas twice.

On the main festivity day, with bulls from Julio de la Puerta, David Galván, last year’s revelation in Madrid, Borja Jiménez, the most awarded bullfighter of 2024 with triumphs in Madrid, Seville, Bilbao, Pamplona, and the young Tristán Barroso, who is scheduled to take his alternativa (ceremony where a novillero becomes a matador) a few days earlier in Arles, and makes his debut as a matador in Spain in Zaragoza.

A generous offering, a display in times of restraint, complemented by the cultural and gastronomic offerings of one of the Spanish cities that has most embraced modernity in recent decades. A temptation for the senses this spring, with bullfighting as the excuse. Dare to discover it.