Village
Xàtiva is the capital and largest municipality of the Costera comarca, in the south of the province of Valencia, with around 31,000 inhabitants. It was one of the most important cities of the former Kingdom of Valencia, a rival of Valencia and Orihuela, and the birthplace of the Borgia popes. In 1707 Bourbon troops burned it down in reprisal for its support of the Austracists in the War of the Spanish Succession, and Philip V imposed on it the name San Felipe; the Valencian place name was restored by decree in 1980. Its pre-Roman name, Saiti to the Iberians, became Saetabis in Latin and Xàtiva in Arabic. It sits between the basins of the rivers Albaida and Cáñoles, in the Montesa corridor, with the sierra de Santa Anna to the north. It preserves an imposing castle and a rich artistic heritage.
Monument
The castle of Xàtiva is a fortress divided into Castell Menor and Castell Major that crowns the sierra Vernissa, with views over the city and the district of La Costera. Of Iberian and Roman origin, the Arabs extended its perimeter to almost its present layout, and after the conquest of James I it served as a state prison of the Crown of Aragon, where infantes, counts and other nobles were held; it came to be regarded as one of the finest fortresses of the Crown. Built in Valencian Gothic style, it suffered severe damage in the War of the Spanish Succession of 1707 and in the earthquake of 1748. Declared a Bien de Interés Cultural (Spain's highest level of heritage protection) in 1931, it is today managed by the City Council of Xàtiva.
Monument
Also known as La Seu, it was built in the 16th century on the site of a former mosque; a Monumento Nacional (Spain's heritage designation in force until 1931) since 1931 and a minor basilica since 1973.
Nature
The municipal nature site of the Cova Negra lies within the territory of Xàtiva, in a narrow valley formed by the river Albaida as it crosses the Serra Grossa, at the outlet of the Estret de les Aigües. With 57.18 hectares, it was declared a municipal nature site by the Generalitat Valenciana in 2006. In its blackish rock walls opens a Middle Palaeolithic site where remains of Homo neandertalensis have been found, discovered in 1933 by the priest G. Viñes. The surroundings contrast riverside vegetation -reed beds, rushes, poplars and elms along the river- with mountain vegetation, dominated by kermes oak and mastic, and are home to species such as Bonelli's eagle and the ull de perdiu, both in danger of extinction. A path along the river runs through the gorge.
Curiosity
The Fallas of Xàtiva date back to 1865, when the first fallas monument, dedicated to anchovy fishing, was set up in the Plaza de la Trinidad; with more than 150 years of history, it is the first city, after Valencia, with documented evidence of this festival. Originally they were celebrated for San Antonio Abad and not for San José as today; the Civil War interrupted the celebrations, which resumed in 1941. They are held from 15 to 19 March in honour of San José, with the plantà and the cremà as the central events, along with the offering and the awarding of prizes. In 2025, 38 fallas were set up, two for each of the 19 commissions, with a collective of more than 5,000 falleros. Since 2015 they have been a Bien de Interés Cultural Inmaterial (Spain's highest level of heritage protection for intangible heritage), and UNESCO declared them Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity in 2016.
Activity
Xàtiva has San Félix as its patron saint and the Virgen de la Seo as its patron saint; its great annual celebration is the Feria de Agosto, from the 15th to the 20th, declared a Fiesta de Interés Turístico Nacional.
Monument
Xàtiva's former grain store, a Valencian Gothic building erected between 1530 and 1548, today home to the City Museum, with archaeological remains from the Cova Negra.
Curiosity
Tradition holds that the Romans threw prisoners to the lions in the Cova Negra of Xàtiva, a cave that in fact owes its fame to a very different find: it is one of the most important Neanderthal sites on the Peninsula. Excavations, led by Valentín Villaverde since 1984, have brought to light fossil remains of Neanderthals, including child individuals whose bones have been preserved intact, which suggests deliberate burial practices. Lithic tools of the Mousterian culture have also been found there. Stratigraphic studies place the occupation between about 117,000 years ago, during an interglacial period, and about 50,000 years ago, coinciding with the Würm glaciation and the near-extinction of the Neanderthals.
Activity
The Fira d'Agost, or Xàtiva Fair, is a fair held in this Valencian city since the year 1250, when Jaume I granted the privilege for it to be held. It was originally a livestock fair held in spring; today it takes place from the 15th, the feast day of the Virgin of the Assumption, to the 20th of August, and combines cultural offerings with attractions and trading. The livestock festivity has been reduced to a pulling and dragging contest held since the 1970s, while among its traditions the most notable are the singing of albades, the fair breakfast, made of sardine, paprika and fried egg, and the Speed Trophy, the oldest urban motorcycle race in Spain, contested since 1951 to coincide with the first day of the fair.
Monument
Church in Xàtiva dating from around 1535, with a Latin-cross plan with side chapels and barrel vaults, and a staircase of Buixcarró marble. It was rebuilt in 1707 after the destruction of the city ordered by Philip V during the War of the Spanish Succession.
Monument
Museum in Xàtiva with works by José de Ribera, Francisco de Goya and Santiago Rusiñol, among them the famous portrait of Felipe V hung upside down in protest at the destruction of the city in 1707.
Curiosity
Pope Calixto III gave the collegiate church of Xàtiva a Gothic gold chalice, now on display in its museum, evidence of the Borja family's connection with the papacy.
Activity
Xàtiva tradition documented since the 14th century in which the streets are carpeted with aromatic plants for the Corpus Christi procession.
Historical milestone
For its support of archduke Charles, Xàtiva was stormed in 1707 by the troops of the Chevalier d'Asfeld and burned by order of Philip V, who renamed the city San Felipe. From that punishment comes the nickname socarrats by which its inhabitants are still known.
Historical milestone
In the Almudín of Xàtiva, seat of the municipal museum, a portrait of Felipe V hangs upside down. The city thus keeps alive, deliberately, the memory of the fire of 1707 and of the change of name the monarch imposed on it after the War of the Spanish Succession.
Historical milestone
Islamic Xàtiva was the first place in Western Europe where papermaking is documented. The city's mills, mentioned by Arab geographers from 1154 onward, spread a technique that had arrived from the East and from here extended across the continent.
Historical milestone
Rodrigo de Borja was born in Xàtiva in 1431 and reached the papacy in 1492 under the name Alejandro VI. Together with his uncle Calixto III he made the Borja one of the most influential families in Europe, and the city preserves his tower and his memory.
Historical milestone
The painter José de Ribera was baptised in Xàtiva in February 1591. Trained in Italy, he spent almost his whole career in Naples and was a central figure of European tenebrism. His native city preserves his memory in the municipal museum and in its street names.
Food and drink
Sweet of Andalusi root proper to Lent and Semana Santa. It is made with roasted pumpkin or sweet potato, sugar, almond, cinnamon and lemon, and is presented in an earthenware dish crowned with almonds and pine nuts. Xàtiva is its main centre of production.
Food and drink
Tender garlic is harvested before it forms a bulb, above all between February and March, in the irrigated lands of the comarca. It holds a quality mark of the Comunitat Valenciana and is the basis of omelettes, rice dishes and stews of the local cooking.