Village
Requena is the largest municipality by area in the province of Valencia, with 814.46 km², and the capital of the comarca of La Plana de Utiel-Requena, in the western interior of the province. Between the 13th and 19th centuries it belonged to Castile, which is why its territory is known as Castilian Valencia, and today it remains predominantly Spanish-speaking, with legal recognition of that linguistic predominance. It has 20,982 inhabitants (INE 2025) and its urban centre stands at 692 metres, on the extension of the Castilian plateau towards the sierras of the Sistema Ibérico, with the río Cabriel carving deep gorges along its south-western boundary. The climate is continental Mediterranean, with summers that often exceed 35°C. It is famous for its barrio de La Villa and its underground caves.
Monument
The Barrio de la Villa, also called the medieval precinct, is the oldest core of Requena and the place where the first signs of settlement are found. Already in the Almohad period it had the urban structure typical of Hispano-Muslim cities, set on a limestone promontory that gave it natural defence, with a wall, towers and access gates. It was declared a conjunto histórico-artístico de carácter nacional (Spain's highest level of heritage protection for an urban ensemble) in 1966. Inside it, cobbled streets and houses bearing coats of arms are preserved, along with the plaza de la Villa - today plaza del Albornoz -, the former plaza Mayor laid out in the 16th century, and three churches remodelled in the 17th century: Santa María, San Nicolás and El Salvador. Beneath the quarter there also extends a network of caves once used as storerooms and silos.
Nature
Known as the Cuevas de La Villa, they run beneath the Plaza de La Villa and most of the adjoining houses in Requena's historic centre. Built by the Arabs, they were used as a refuge during various wars and as grain silos, and they preserve elements used in winemaking: trullos, piqueras, trulletas, ventilation shafts and tinajas (large jars) from the 12th century. After restoration work, they were opened to the public in 2016.
Curiosity
One of the most important wine denominations of origin in Spain, famous for the native Bobal grape, from which high-quality red and rosé wines are made.
Activity
The Fiesta de la Vendimia is Requena's central and most popular celebration, dedicated to wine and the grape harvest, the city's traditional economic driver. It was born in 1948 on the initiative of the Arrabal group, in a country still recovering from the Civil War and the Second World War, with the aim of instilling joy and hope. It is held over five days between late August and early September, preceded by the fair in honour of the town's patroness, the Virgen de los Dolores. Its highlights include the proclamation of the queen, the treading of the grapes and blessing of the must, the offering of flowers and fruit to the Virgin, and the great parade of floats along Avenida del Arrabal, alongside the Feria Requenense del Vino, where local producers present their wines.
Monument
Torre del Homenaje of Requena (Valencia), the only surviving remnant of the Muslim walled precinct from the caliphal period, between the 8th and 11th centuries. The original tower, built of mortar, was replaced in 1423 by another built of ashlar stone. Now restored, it can be visited inside, having been turned into an open space with digital panels explaining its history.
Monument
The church of Santa María, in the Barrio de la Villa of Requena, is one of the two Gothic churches in the historic centre, along with the nearby church of El Salvador, and is dedicated to the Assumption of Our Lady. Construction began in the 14th century, though its interior was not completed until the 18th century, which explains the mix of styles: Isabelline Flamboyant Gothic on the outside and Baroque inside. It has a single nave with chapels between the buttresses, a rectangular tower reached by a spiral staircase, and a doorway dedicated to the Annunciation with a Virgin and Child on the mullion. It has been a Bien de Interés Cultural (Spain's highest level of heritage protection) since 1931. In the early 21st century it ceased to be used for worship and today serves as an exhibition and concert hall.
Monument
The church of El Salvador has been the archpriest church of Requena since 1649 and is the city's most notable building, in the historic Barrio de la Villa. It is a Gothic-style building, constructed between the 14th and 16th centuries on the site of an old hermitage dedicated to Santa Bárbara; work began in 1380 and finished in 1533, and in 1931 it was declared a monumento histórico-artístico (a former heritage-protection category, predecessor of today's Bien de Interés Cultural). It has three naves, the central one wider and taller, with chapels between the buttresses. Notable is the main façade, in Isabelline Flamboyant Gothic style, with a doorway flanked by pedestals that once held sculptures of the twelve apostles, now incomplete. In the 18th century the Chapel of the Communion was added, octagonal in plan and Neoclassical in style.
Monument
The Municipal Museum of Requena, in the province of Valencia, has occupied since 1975 the former Royal Convent of El Carmen, next to the church of the same name. Founded in 1968 as the Museo Histórico Artístico de Requena y su comarca, it has been part of the Network of Local Ethnological Museums since 2017. Its permanent collections cover traditional dress from the Campo de Requena-Utiel between 1789 and 1914, the area's wine production from vine planting to bottling —with a room devoted to wine holding 1,200 bottles—, a rural and urban dwelling with furniture from the 18th to the 20th century, and an archaeological display on daily life and the Roman funerary world of the area, including a reconstruction of the funerary monument of La Calerilla de Hortunas.
Nature
Beneath the streets of La Villa de Requena (Valencia) run numerous galleries and caves from the Arab period, built by the Arabs, which pass under the Plaza de La Villa and most of the adjoining houses. Historically used as dwellings and wine cellars, they also served as shelters during various wars and as grain silos. They preserve winemaking features: trulls (treading vats), piqueras, trulletas, air vents and 12th-century tinajas (large storage jars).
Curiosity
Festival combining wine, music, nature and heritage, held in several municipalities of the La Plana de Utiel-Requena comarca around the Bobal grape variety. It is organised by the Mancomunidad Tierra Bobal, set up in 1990 and made up of Camporrobles, Caudete de las Fuentes, Fuenterrobles, Requena, Sinarcas, Utiel, Venta del Moro and Villargordo del Cabriel. The 'Tierra Bobal' brand was adopted in 2020 to distinguish the area from other Spanish regions called Tierra del Vino, taking its name from the grape variety that has characterised the comarca for 2,500 years, though it remained little known until the late 20th century. Among the destination's cultural heritage, besides its architecture and landscape, are five towers from José María Mathé's optical telegraph system.
Activity
Requena's Feria del Embutido Artesano y de Calidad (Fair of Artisan, Quality Cured Meats) is held in February, centered on the traditional pig-slaughter recipes protected by its own regulatory council, alongside other events such as the Fiesta de la Vendimia (Grape Harvest Festival) and Ferevin.
Curiosity
Hamlet of Requena founded in the 15th century around a livestock watering trough called Balsa de Campo Haçis, on the site now occupied by the La Balsilla park. It had 430 inhabitants in the 2010 census, a figure that rises in summer with those who have a second home here. It lives off agriculture, above all vine-growing, along with almonds, olives and mushrooms in considerable quantities, as well as pig and rabbit farms. It has four wineries - Luis Torres, Casa Pastor, Sebirán and San Isidro Labrador, the latter a cooperative - devoted to wine production.
Monument
Church built in 1914 over an earlier hermitage of 1773 dedicated to the Cristo de la Agonía and enlarged in 1779 under the patronage of San Isidro Labrador, patron saint of the outlying village of Campo Arcís.
Curiosity
El Rebollar is one of the twenty-five hamlets of Requena, about eight kilometres from the capital, whose origin goes back to an old chapel dedicated to the Virgen del Rosario around which the settlement grew; in her honour, patronal festivities are held every 1 May, joined since the early 21st century by further celebrations in summer. In its territory stands the peak of El Tejo y La Herrada, at 1,250 metres the highest in the town, reached by a steep track from which, on clear days, the sea can be seen; at its foot lies the Herrada del Gallego, a hunting reserve where deer and wild goats breed. Also here is Requena's aerodrome, with a flying school and the aircraft collection of the Fundación Aérea de la Comunidad Valenciana.
Monument
Hermitage with a single nave covered by a pointed vault and a wooden choir loft, built in the late 18th century with contributions from residents of the outlying village of El Rebollar.
Curiosity
Los Ruices is one of the most remote hamlets of Requena, right on the boundary with the municipality of Venta del Moro, at a point almost equidistant from Venta del Moro (10 kilometres), Utiel (14) and Requena itself (18). Its inhabitants feel themselves to be from Requena, and many also keep a home in Requena where they live for much of the year. Barely just over 50 are registered, and in winter no more than 12 or 14 sleep in the hamlet, while the rest come during the day to work the vineyards; in summer it fills with people seeking peace and quiet. Despite the small population, there are hardly any abandoned houses and demand for housing continues. The hamlet also has a swimming pool with a tree-lined lawn area, built thanks to contributions from a group of members.
Monument
Church built in 1982 beside a tree-lined square, replacing the hermitage erected in 1943 and raised to parish status in 1965 in the outlying village of Los Ruices.
Curiosity
La Portera is a hamlet or pedanía of Requena whose name comes from a 17th-century masía (farmhouse) owned by a farmer whose only daughter entered the convent of the Augustinian nuns of Requena as a religious, to which she bequeathed the estate as a dowry; the new nun took up the post of portress of the convent and continued to manage the property. In 1870 the hamlet had barely 20 houses, a figure that grew to 447 inhabitants in 1950 before shrinking, due to emigration, to about 150 today. Its economy revolves around viticulture, with the wines of its cooperative as a hallmark of the local festivals, among them that of Saint Joseph, patron of the hamlet, and that of Our Lady of the Assumption, every 15 August, with an offering of flowers and fruit since 1994.
Monument
Original hermitage founded in 1808, replaced as parish church in 1963 and since then converted into a cultural and social space for the outlying village of La Portera, listed as a Bien de Relevancia Local.
Curiosity
Los Pedrones is a pedanía of Requena, about 20 kilometres to the south along the N-330, which serves as the hub of the neighbouring settlements thanks to its services and commercial dynamism: it has the Purísima Concepción Agricultural Cooperative, a small industry of traditional goat's cheeses and yogurts, shops, bars, a petrol station and a guesthouse, as well as buses to Requena and Valencia. Its origin dates back to the 17th century, when the settlers Tomás, Francisco and Antonio Pedrón, who had come from La Mancha, cleared these lands; the Dalt and Baix quarters were joined in 1911 when the road was laid out. It preserves a chapel, restored in 2002, around which the feasts of the Purísima Concepción (8 December) and Sant Antoni Abat (17 January) are celebrated.
Monument
El Pontón is the pedanía of Requena (Valencia) closest to the urban centre, about three kilometres away, at the junction of the roads to Almansa and Albacete, from which the road to La Vega also branches off. It has 469 registered inhabitants (INE 2023), a figure that grows in the summer months with the arrival of visitors. It has small shops, a petrol station, bars and a Centro Social with bar service and a landscaped area with swings and a basketball court, which has become a meeting place for the pontoneros. Its main festivities, in honour of Our Lady of Mount Carmel, are held from 8 to 17 July.
Monument
Hermitage built in 1943 dedicated to the Virgen del Carmen, the religious centre of the outlying village of El Pontón, in the municipal district of Requena.
Historical milestone
Taken by the troops of Fernando III around 1238, the town received from Alfonso X the fuero that organised its council and its extensive alfoz. That district came to cover a good part of the present comarca and from it the other towns were later segregated.
Historical milestone
For six centuries the town belonged to Castile and remained outside the Kingdom of Valencia, with Castilian fueros and coinage. In 1851 it passed, together with Utiel, from the province of Cuenca to that of Valencia for reasons of communications and of trade.
Historical milestone
In the eighteenth century the town came to have some eight hundred silk looms and placed itself among the greatest silk centres in the country. The sector's crisis in the nineteenth century pushed the owners to replace mulberry trees with vineyard, the origin of the present wine-growing comarca.
Food and drink
Requena is the only municipality of the Comunitat Valenciana included in the Cava Designation of Origin. Its wineries make sparkling wines by the traditional method with macabeo, chardonnay and bobal, and several preserve ageing cellars dug underground.
Food and drink
The dry, cold climate of the plateau allowed the air-curing of longanizas, chorizos and onion blood sausages made at the domestic pig slaughter. The tradition today sustains an artisan sausage industry that supplies the whole comarca and the city of Valencia.