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vara in Spain

In the 15ᵗʰ century Italian merchants recorded two varas in use for measuring cloth: one about 81.7 centimeters, and a second, longer one for linen cloth, about 155.6 centimeters.

Braccia uno e duo quinti di panno di Firenze fa in Sybilia varra una. Varra una di panno lino di Sybilia fa in Firenze braccia dua e duo terzi.

One and 2/5 braccia of cloth in Florence make one vara in Seville. One vara of linen cloth in Seville makes 2 2/3 braccia in Florence.

Chiarini, 1481.

The standard vara was the vara of Castile, (about 0.8359 meter, subdivided into 3 pies or 4 palmos), but there was considerable regional variation. For each of the Spanish provinces in which the vara of Castile was not used, the following table lists the name of the unit that was used and its value in the mid-19th century. This information was published by the Spanish government in accordance with a royal order of 9 December 1852.

Province	Unit	Value in meters
Albacete	vara	0.837
Alicante	vara	0.912
Almería	vara	0.833
Balearic Islands (Palma)	½ cana, 4 palmos	0.782
Barcelona	cana = 8 palmos	1.555
Canary Islands	vara	0.842
Castellón	vara	0.906
Cuidad Real	vara	0.839
Coruña	vara de Madrid	0.843
Gerona	cana	1.559
Guipúzcoa	vara	0.837
Huesca	vara	0.772
Jaén	vara	0.839
Lérida	½ cana, 4 palmos	0.778
Lograño	vara	0.837
Lugo	vara	0.855
Madrid	vara	0.843
Mallorca	destre	4.214
Pamplona	vara	0.785
Segovia	vara de Albacete	0.837
Tarragona	½ cana = 4 palmos	0.780
Teruel	vara	0.768
Toledo	vara	0.837
Valencia	vara	0.906
Zaragosa	vara	0.772