Village
Algueña is a municipality of the Vinalopó Mitjà, in the province of Alicante, at the western end of the comarca, on a plateau of about 600 m broken to the north by the Sierra del Reclot. Documented as Cañada de la Alheña in a 1470 memorial, its name derives from the Arabic alhinna, a dye plant native to the area. It belonged to Pinoso until 1933, when it split off as an independent municipality together with the hamlet of La Solana, after growing through dry farming and quarries to around two thousand residents at the start of the 20th century. The Sierra del Reclot, shared with Monòver, El Pinós and La Romana, holds large white-marble quarries that clad the façade of its church, built in 1738 under the patronage of the Santos de la Piedra, Abdón y Senén. It has 1,328 inhabitants (INE 2025).
Activity
The patronal festivities of Algueña, in the Vinalopó Mitjà (Alicante), are held in the last week of July in honour of the saints Abdón and Senén, whose joint feast day falls on 30 July and to whom the town's parish church, built in 1738, is dedicated. The programme includes a float parade, gymkhanas, a motorcycling championship on an urban circuit, tournaments of the traditional games of caliche and tanganilla, quail-shooting contests, concerts, fireworks and religious events. Algueña also observes Holy Week with intense popular participation, during which the brotherhoods of Nuestro Padre Jesús and La Dolorosa process, and holds neighbourhood festivities dedicated to San Juan Bautista on 24 June and to San Pedro on the 29th.
Monument
Parish church of Algueña, built in 1738, with two twin square towers added in the 19th century, one with a clock and the other with three bells. It has a wide central nave and a chapel on one of its sides. The town's rural vicarage was created in 1828, by decree of the Bishop of Orihuela, before the parish reached its present configuration.
Monument
The cave houses of Algueña (El Vinalopó Mitjà, Alicante), scattered mainly around the outskirts of the present urban centre, date back to the origins of the municipality and were inhabited as regular homes from the early 18th century, until their owners gradually built or acquired houses in the town. They have been preserved since then as second homes, valued for their isothermal properties, which protect against the cold in winter and the heat in summer.
Nature
Mountain range north of Algueña, on the plateau at 534 metres above sea level in the Vinalopó Mitjà.
Curiosity
The name Algueña derives from the Arabic alhinna (henna), an oil-yielding plant used for textile dyes, linked to the local flora. The earliest documentary reference dates from 1470, when the place name appears as Cañada de la Alheña in a petition to Ferdinand the Catholic over a boundary dispute. The town, with its own parish since 1738, was dependent on Pinoso until the strong population growth of the late 19th and early 20th centuries, with 1,953 inhabitants in 1900, led it to become independent in 1933.
Activity
The festivities of Algueña, in the Alicante comarca of Vinalopó Mitjà, are held in the last week of July in honour of the patron saints Abdon and Senen, with parades, motorsport and fireworks. The programme includes a float parade, gymkhanas, a motorcycling trophy on an urban circuit, caliche-tanganilla championships, quail shooting, firework displays, concerts and liturgical events.
Monument
The parish church of San José of Algueña dates from 1828, when the bishop of Orihuela, Felipe Herrero Valverde, decreed the creation of a rural vicariate dependent on the parish of Monóvar. It was built in Romanesque style on the site of an earlier hermitage, thirty-two metres deep by twelve metres wide at the front, with a large central nave and a side chapel. Its most characteristic feature is its two twin square towers -one with a clock and the other with three bells- which reflect the strength of the local marble industry, with the façade clad in white marble from nearby quarries. Originally it had only the east tower, built together with the church; the west one was added in 1930, in the same style, along with the terrace joining the two.
Nature
Dwellings hollowed out of the rock that, from the 18th century, served as the usual residence of many residents of Algueña. Cave dwelling goes back to the origins of the municipality and is concentrated, for the most part, on the outskirts of the present town centre. Over time, their owners came to build or acquire houses in the town centre, and the caves came to be used as second homes, kept for their isothermal properties, which shelter from the cold in winter and the heat in summer.
Nature
The Sierra del Reclot, which stretches between Algueña, Monòver, El Pinós and La Romana, holds large open-cast white marble quarries such as those of Cavarrasa and Coto, as well as pine woods and ravines.
Historical milestone
The settlement grew with the dryland farming and the quarries until it came to around two thousand households at the beginning of the twentieth century, according to the census of 1900. In 1933 it was segregated from the district of Pinoso and constituted its own town council, with La Solana incorporated as an outlying village.
Food and drink
The local baking comes down to two oven pieces: the perusas, biscuits of almond and sugar, and the sequillos, dry little sponge cakes of oil and anise that keep for weeks in the larder. They were prepared for the patron saint festivities and for the pig-slaughter days.