La Celia is a Colombian municipality located in the department of Risaralda. It is located 64 kilometers northwest of Pereira, the capital of the department.
In homage to a well-known merchant and leader named Celia, in 1915 the township of Barcelona changed its name to La Celia, which in 1959 was recognized as a municipality.
Some places of interest are: The temple of Our Lady of Carmen, La Laguna, the jets, the monkey corridor, etc. In addition to its municipal seat, Celia has a populated center under its jurisdiction: Patio Bonito.
The history of this municipality was not always calm, years ago it was considered a quite dangerous town, its violence rates exceeded that of other nearby municipalities and people were warned not to travel to it. One of the factors that caused La Celia to be violent at that time was a bipartisan war between several families in the town at the end of the 80s, which culminated in the total extermination of these families and the constant presence of groups outside the law. .
In past years, the FARC guerrillas had runners along several paths in the municipality, until the paramilitaries arrived in the area and gradually expelled them from La Celia. Only after the demobilization with the government of Álvaro Uribe Vélez did the paramilitaries not return to the town.
Today it is a very quiet and pleasant town to visit, especially its plaza with several booths where you can taste the region's coffee, or spend a relaxing afternoon. The road that goes from Balboa, although it already has parts with new roads, is not yet there. It is good in its entirety and you should be careful when descending because it has some very dangerous gaps.