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Abstract: Between 1750 and 1757 a major census was carried out in the Spanish territories of the Crown of Castile. Known as the Catastro di Ensenada, it had been promoted by the then Minister of Treasury, Zenón de Somodevilla, 1st Marquis of Ensenada, and included people, properties, revenues and debts. It is a cadastre based on text, not cartography. When dealing with a city it provides its location, a description, the measurements, the revenue values and the names of the owners of all the buildings (homes, shops, bakeries, warehouses, municipal buildings etc.) and also lists filial relationships, social class, economic activity and civil status of the population members. Such a vast amount of information makes it possible to reconstruct with adequate detail the level and socio-economic structure of the population of the Castilian towns and villages.