Information about Xativa, Valencia
Share your thoughts about Xativa
I am a former magazine editor, and still write and edit today. Just visited Spain and saw your website. You really want to revisit that first sentence by taking out the "not"!
Also, the "it's" in the first sentence of the history section should be "its" instead! : )
Also, the "it's" in the first sentence of the history section should be "its" instead! : )
Posted by
Mark DuPre
9 months ago
Xativa is a hidden gem and its easy to fall in love with it. It is a beautiful, historical and vibrant town.
Xativa has become popular for many good reasons. It is a very pretty Spanish market town, has an interesting history, is set in a beautiful rural landscape in an orange grove region, is close to the coast, and property prices here are much more reasonable than costal regions. It has become what many believe to be the real Spain.
Today it has approx. 30,000 inhabitants. In former times it was the second most important town in the Valencia Region, today it is still the capital of the area “La Costera”.
Xativa scenic old town is fascinating, but Xativa also offers all modern day comforts, like shopping malls, cinemas, a local hospital, bars, shops and restaurants. Ideal days to visit Xativa are Tuesday and Friday mornings, these days the local market is in town. On summer evenings the atmosphere is one of family and community, people of all ages out until very late enjoying life, certainly the older residents of Xativa are not worried about strolling around the town at midnight.
There are excellent amenities for daily living and a direct rail connection to Valencia (45 minutes by local train, 20 minutes by Express). It is also served by the long distance trains to Alicante, Barcelona, Madrid and the South of Spain. The motorway links are also very good, Valencia is approximately 30 miles away, Alicante some 85 miles and Gandia beach only 25 miles from Xàtiva.
Located on the gentle slope of the Sierra del Castillo, Xàtiva is surrounded by beautiful natural scenery which give the city an indescribable charm. The countryside is very green, the mountains offer a a breathtaking backdrop to the orange and olive groves which are abundant here. There are lovely walks through quiet areas and rivers full of fish. Ideal for walking, hiking, rock-climbing and mountain-biking.
HISTORY:
The Town, originally Roman, was founded because of it’s unlimited supply of fresh water, supplied by natural springs, you will see people filling their water bottles from one of the fountains. Xativa is as well called the town of the 1000 fontains.
The Via Augusta (the longest Roman road on the Iberian Peninsula) once passed Xàtiva, and Hannibal watered his elephants here, denoting the important position Xàtiva had centuries ago. A myth says, that one of Hannibal’s sons is born in the Xativa Castle. Xàtiva is conserved today for its own merits and is declared a "monumental town" par exellence.
Xàtiva is the birthplace of two Popes of the Borja dynasty, the only Spanish popes the Catholic church ever had. The famous painter José de Ribera, known as "El Españoleto", is another of Xativas famous sons.
In the XI century the first paper mill in Europe was built here, the paper being made with straw and rice, known today as "Xativí paper".
IMPORTANT FESTIVALS:
The most crazy festival takes place in the middle of March. The FALLAS is the spectacular Fire Festival, when the most incredible papier maché effigies are built and then burnt, all this in the middle of a busy town.
If you want to see authentic Spain come on Good Friday to Xativa: its worth to view the effigies that are paraded through the town among the beautiful Basilica houses, something not to be missed.
Middle of August : the town takes its holiday to celebrate the traditional Feria de verano. For one week there is a fair on the main road, open air concerts (classic & rock) every day. Last year we had Elton John and Gloria Gayner here. The feria is open and closed by stunning fireworks you do never see in Northern Europe.
At Christmas the Christmas tree and Nativity Garden stand for the 12 days and are never vandalised, something that would be a miracle in the U.K. The festivities conclude on the 6th January with the festival of the Three Kings, a lovely festival for the children.
Xativa has become popular for many good reasons. It is a very pretty Spanish market town, has an interesting history, is set in a beautiful rural landscape in an orange grove region, is close to the coast, and property prices here are much more reasonable than costal regions. It has become what many believe to be the real Spain.
Today it has approx. 30,000 inhabitants. In former times it was the second most important town in the Valencia Region, today it is still the capital of the area “La Costera”.
Xativa scenic old town is fascinating, but Xativa also offers all modern day comforts, like shopping malls, cinemas, a local hospital, bars, shops and restaurants. Ideal days to visit Xativa are Tuesday and Friday mornings, these days the local market is in town. On summer evenings the atmosphere is one of family and community, people of all ages out until very late enjoying life, certainly the older residents of Xativa are not worried about strolling around the town at midnight.
There are excellent amenities for daily living and a direct rail connection to Valencia (45 minutes by local train, 20 minutes by Express). It is also served by the long distance trains to Alicante, Barcelona, Madrid and the South of Spain. The motorway links are also very good, Valencia is approximately 30 miles away, Alicante some 85 miles and Gandia beach only 25 miles from Xàtiva.
Located on the gentle slope of the Sierra del Castillo, Xàtiva is surrounded by beautiful natural scenery which give the city an indescribable charm. The countryside is very green, the mountains offer a a breathtaking backdrop to the orange and olive groves which are abundant here. There are lovely walks through quiet areas and rivers full of fish. Ideal for walking, hiking, rock-climbing and mountain-biking.
HISTORY:
The Town, originally Roman, was founded because of it’s unlimited supply of fresh water, supplied by natural springs, you will see people filling their water bottles from one of the fountains. Xativa is as well called the town of the 1000 fontains.
The Via Augusta (the longest Roman road on the Iberian Peninsula) once passed Xàtiva, and Hannibal watered his elephants here, denoting the important position Xàtiva had centuries ago. A myth says, that one of Hannibal’s sons is born in the Xativa Castle. Xàtiva is conserved today for its own merits and is declared a "monumental town" par exellence.
Xàtiva is the birthplace of two Popes of the Borja dynasty, the only Spanish popes the Catholic church ever had. The famous painter José de Ribera, known as "El Españoleto", is another of Xativas famous sons.
In the XI century the first paper mill in Europe was built here, the paper being made with straw and rice, known today as "Xativí paper".
IMPORTANT FESTIVALS:
The most crazy festival takes place in the middle of March. The FALLAS is the spectacular Fire Festival, when the most incredible papier maché effigies are built and then burnt, all this in the middle of a busy town.
If you want to see authentic Spain come on Good Friday to Xativa: its worth to view the effigies that are paraded through the town among the beautiful Basilica houses, something not to be missed.
Middle of August : the town takes its holiday to celebrate the traditional Feria de verano. For one week there is a fair on the main road, open air concerts (classic & rock) every day. Last year we had Elton John and Gloria Gayner here. The feria is open and closed by stunning fireworks you do never see in Northern Europe.
At Christmas the Christmas tree and Nativity Garden stand for the 12 days and are never vandalised, something that would be a miracle in the U.K. The festivities conclude on the 6th January with the festival of the Three Kings, a lovely festival for the children.
Posted by
Annette Franke
about 3 years ago
Xativa has a population of just over 25,000 and is 45 minutes from Valencia, 30 minutes from the blue flag beaches of Gandia and 90 minutes from Alicante.
Posted by
Nick Storey
almost 4 years ago
Xàtiva is a town of eastern Spain, in the province of Valencia, on the right bank of the river Albaida and at the junction of the Valencia–Murcia and Valencia Albacete railways. Xàtiva is built on the margin of a fertile and beautiful plain, and on the southern slopes of the Monte Bernisa, a hill with two peaks, each surmounted by a castle Castle of Játiva. With its numerous fountains, and spacious avenues shaded with elms or cypresses, the town has a clean and attractive appearance. Its collegiate church, dating from 1414, but rebuilt about a century later in the Renaissance style, was formerly a cathedral, and is the chief among many churches and convents. The town-hall and a church on the castle hill are partly constructed of inscribed Roman masonry, and several houses date from the Moorish period. There is a brisk local trade in grain, fruit, wine, olive oil and rice. The leading football club is CD Olimpic Xàtiva
Xativa is also known as an early European center of paper manufacture. In the twelfth century, Arabs brought the technology to manufacture paper to Xativa.
Birthplace of the painter José Ribera "Spagnoletto" and of Pope Alexander VI, it suffered a dark moment in its history at the hands of Philip V of Spain, who, after his victory in the Battle of Almansa in the War of the Spanish Succession, ordered the city to be burned, changing its name to San Felipe. In memory of the insult, the portrait of the monarch hangs upside down in the local museum of L'Almodí.
Xativa is also known as an early European center of paper manufacture. In the twelfth century, Arabs brought the technology to manufacture paper to Xativa.
Birthplace of the painter José Ribera "Spagnoletto" and of Pope Alexander VI, it suffered a dark moment in its history at the hands of Philip V of Spain, who, after his victory in the Battle of Almansa in the War of the Spanish Succession, ordered the city to be burned, changing its name to San Felipe. In memory of the insult, the portrait of the monarch hangs upside down in the local museum of L'Almodí.
Posted by
Wikipedia
almost 4 years ago
