Cirilo Villaverde de la Paz is the author of the classic Cuban novel Cecilia Valdés or La loma del Ángel, the masterpiece of Cuban literature in the 19th century. He was born in San Diego de Núñez, Pinar del Río, on October 28, 1812 and died in the United States on October 23, 1894.
According to Julián Vivanco in his work ''Estampas antiguas de San Antonio'', on the morning of March 20, 1839, Cirilo Villaverde left Havana, accompanied by the notable French landscape painter Alejandro Moreau and the Presbyter Francisco Ruiz, towards Ceiba del Water. The railroad continued to Bejucal, so the three travelers got off at Rincón and started on their way to San Antonio, guided by a young black man. Around 11 in the morning, they spotted the town. In his description, Villaverde said: "It can not be denied that San Antonio is one of the most considerable and beautiful villages of our interior populations in the western department of the island ..." It also refers to the presence of modern buildings, lingerie stores, groceries, hardware stores, inns, pharmacies, the hospital, the barracks, the church, the patriotic deputation, the school and other places.
During the tour, Cirilo Villaverde, along with his traveling companions, saw a wooden house, with guano roofs, surrounded by a fence of round sticks which had a sign that read "Council Court". Villaverde had to explain to his French friend Moreau that it was the place where the Town Hall of the Villa enclosed the animals that were loose and hurt the neighbors. But the most relevant was a group of houses similar to this, located on the line of the street that went straight to the river bridge. These houses were divided by fences within which there were many flowers, birds and fruit trees. On the bridge they could contemplate the Ariguanabo River and its margins covered by ranches and baths. Cirilo Villaverde and his friends also observed the commercial and industrial movement of the Villa and rested in an inn. Then they continued the trip to Vereda Nueva and from there to Ceiba del Agua where they stayed in a coffee plantation near the town.
