In the Andalusian town you can see that it is not just any anniversary and that Salesianity is already in the air. Father Eduardo Arduña, Salesian Director of the Salesian presence in Cadiz, testified to this during his address at the opening ceremony for the 75th anniversary of the Salesians of Rota.

The Salesian Family in Rota, together with the authorities who participated in this event, did not want a similar event to go unnoticed, but, on the contrary, decided to take advantage of it to remember with what joy and expectation Rota welcomed the Sons of Don Bosco in 1949 – five years after the arrival of the Daughters of Mary Help of Christians, who arrived in 1944 – and to relaunch Don Bosco's mission in the city, on the basis of that enthusiasm.

The Nuestra Señora del Rosario school is a Salesian Catholic school that dates back to 1949, the year in which Fr José Capote Amarillo (chaplain of the Daughters of Mary Help of Christians) and Fr Cristóbal Escribano Oliva, (parish priest of Nuestra Señora de la O), both priests of Arcos de la Frontera, managed to carry out the project they had conceived in 1945 for the young people of Rota.

The construction and beginning of the house involved many difficulties and obstacles, but the two Salesians managed to obtain financing from an expensive and ambitious project by asking for financial support from the citizens of Rota themselves. The help of the locals, together with the donations of some wealthy families from the place made it possible to do so and, although at first with minimal and essential resources, classes began in 1949.

At the time, the Salesian house was located on the outskirts of the city, next to a customs station, while today it is located in the geographical centre of Rota.

The house, like a typical Salesian house, is configured as a space open to the surrounding environment, developing not only a pedagogical function, but also a social one, as a centre of social and cultural animation and as a meeting place for those who pursue objectives consistent and compatible with those of the Salesians, aimed primarily at education and evangelisation.

Today, the Salesian educational offer in Rota continues to carry on Don Bosco's dream, promoting the human and Christian formation of the individual on a twofold level: attention to young people through the approach to their own situation; and the transformation of it through an integral formation of students. All this takes place through faith groups, the Youth Centre or theatre groups, (included in the school and youth ministry), as well as interaction with other groups welcomed in the centre such as the Santo Domingo Savio Scout Group.

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