Village
Navarrés gives its name to the Canal de Navarrés comarca, in Valencia, and stands at 275 metres above sea level beside the río Grande, whose course forms the Ceja del Río Grande, covered in pine woods and aromatic scrubland; it has around 3,027 inhabitants and Spanish is the predominant language. The territory abounds in sites from almost every period, especially Muslim; it passed into the hands of James the Conqueror in 1244 and later was a lordship of the Tolsá family, together with Bolbaite, Chella and Bicorp. It preserves the church of the Assumption, rebuilt in the 18th century, and a castle of Mozarabic origin raised over a Bronze Age settlement. Among its natural sites stand out the Escalona dam, with nearby caves, and El Garrofero, a rock shelter with Levantine rock art.
Activity
Navarrés celebrates its patronal festival from 8 to 12 October in honour of the Santísimo Cristo de la Salud and the Virgen del Remedio, with processions, a flower offering and fireworks.
Nature
Playamonte is a population centre in the municipality of Navarrés, in the comarca of La Canal de Navarrés. It consists of an inland beach, an artificial lake that serves as the comarca's meeting and bathing spot, surrounded by natural water springs.
Monument
Church of 1574 with main and side doorways carved in stone with Baroque motifs and a four-tiered 20th-century bell tower; its Latin-cross plan is covered by a barrel vault.
Monument
The Ermita del Santísimo Cristo de la Salud in Navarrés is an 18th-century building located to the east of the town, on a hillock about 200 metres high, commissioned by Paula Calatayud, wife of Baltasar Pérez. It was extended in 1928, with the work inaugurated on 30 August of that year. It comprises a single nave with pilasters, semicircular arches and a barrel vault, with a bell-gable above the entrance door. In the presbytery, a neoclassical altarpiece houses in its central niche the image of the Cristo de la Salud, carved in polychrome wood in 1940 and held in great devotion among the people of Navarrés. The chapel is the focus of the patronal festivities, held from 8 to 12 October in honour of the Christ and the Virgen de los Remedios.
Monument
The castle of Navarrés, an ancient 12th-century Islamic fortress raised on a hill near the village, with rammed-earth walls and remains documenting earlier occupation from the Bronze Age, was conquered by James I in 1244 during his siege of Xàtiva. It passed through several owners —the Lauria family from 1297, Pascual Maçana in 1367, Jaume Castellá in 1387— until in 1448 the Barony of Navarrés was formed around it, raised to a marquisate in 1557 in favour of Pedro Luis Galcerán de Borja. After the expulsion of the Moriscos in 1609 it was left practically depopulated; today only small stretches of wall and two of its towers remain. Its ruined image appears on the coat of arms of Navarrés, approved in 1962, beneath the arms of the Borja family, marquesses of the town.
Nature
Dwellings cut into the rock near the hermitage of the Cristo, which housed the Arab population that settled Navarrés before the Christian conquest.
Curiosity
The forced expulsion of the Moriscos, who made up the majority of the population, left the municipality of Navarrés almost deserted, a key episode in the history of the Canal de Navarrés.
Historical milestone
In 1557 the Crown granted the title of marquis of Navarrés to Pedro Luis Galcerán de Borja, the last grand master of the Order of Montesa. The lordship tied the villa to the house of Borja for centuries, until the dissolution of the seigneurial regime.
Historical milestone
The expulsion of 1609 emptied Navarrés, inhabited by some 250 families of New Christians. The carta puebla granted in 1611 sought to attract colonists, but recovery was very slow: in 1646 only 59 inhabited houses were counted in the villa.
Food and drink
Artisan sweet made in Navarrés with honey, almond, peanut and popcorn, which give it its light texture and its name. It is produced in local workshops, above all for the winter festivities, and is one of the products the villa sells outside the comarca.
Food and drink
Traditional pastries of the villa. Orilletas are strips of dough fried and coated in honey, proper to Christmas and Carnival; mostachones are buns of almond and sugar baked in the oven. Both are still made in the town's bakeries.