Logbook · 6 places

What to see and do in Oliva

What to see and do in Oliva (La Safor, Valencia): 6 places across monuments, nature, activities and curiosities, with a photo and a Google Maps location.

1 Villages · 1 Monuments · 1 Activities · 3 Historical milestones

When to go to Oliva: festival calendar

July: Moros y Cristianos de Oliva (third weekend of July)

Towns near Oliva

What to see in Piles 2.6 km · 2 places
What to see in Alqueria de la Comtessa (l') 3.4 km · 1 place
What to see in Palmera 3.7 km · 1 place
What to see in Miramar 3.9 km · 1 place
What to see in Rafelcofer 4.2 km · 1 place
What to see in Font d'en Carròs (la) 4.2 km · 5 places
What to see in Bellreguard 4.6 km · 6 places
What to see in Guardamar de la Safor 5.4 km · 3 places

Spain › Valencian Community › Valencia › La Safor › Oliva

What to see and do in Oliva

Oliva
Village
Oliva is a municipality in the comarca of La Safor, in the province of Valencia, on the border with Alicante, with 26,813 inhabitants. Its name comes from the Arabic Awraba, with the forms Oriva and Oliva alternating in Valencian until the latter prevailed in the 16th century. The municipal area combines a mountainous zone, with the Puig del Frare as its highest point, a central plain of market gardens reclaimed from former marshland and an 8.8-kilometre coastal strip of beaches, partly within the Marjal de Pego-Oliva nature park. The Bullent river, after receiving the waters of the Racons, becomes the Molinell, which separates Oliva and Dénia before reaching the Mediterranean. The climate is warm, with more than 230 days a year of maximum temperatures above 20 degrees. Oliva retains a historic centre of Muslim origin and extensive beaches.
Historic centre of Oliva
Monument
The old town of Oliva, of Muslim origin, preserves the narrow, winding streets typical of an Andalusi urban layout. West of the original core, the moreria or Raval quarter developed from the 13th century around a mosque, over which the church of Saint Roch was later built. Today four traditional quarters can be distinguished - Santa María, the oldest and seat of the church of Santa María la Mayor, Sant Roc, El Pinet and Sant Francesc. The walled precinct, built in the mid-15th century by Serafín de Centelles and later extended by his nephew Francisco with the count's palace, opened through the gates of Mar, Molí, Raval, Pi and Carme.
Moros y Cristianos de Oliva
Activity
Moors and Christians festival of Oliva (the Safor, Valencia), celebrated on the third weekend of July to commemorate the fighting between Christians and Muslims during the Reconquista. Local tradition places its origin in February 1599, when, during a royal celebration at El Molinell, an attack by Barbary pirates was staged, which many people of Oliva consider their first festive performance. The modern festivities are documented from 2 May 1921, in honour of the Holy Christ of Saint Roch, with interruptions in 1925 due to its cost and its disappearance in 1956; in 1975, on the initiative of Rafael Boronat and the metalworkers' guild, two squads paraded in the July procession, a success that has kept the celebration going ever since.
Grant of the county of Oliva
Historical milestone
Alfonso the Magnanimous granted in 1449 the title of count of Oliva to Francesc Gilabert de Centelles. The Centelles fortified the town in the middle of the fifteenth century and enlarged its defences in 1545, according to the preserved inscriptions; the county ended up united to the house of Borja.
Gregori Mayans i Siscar, Enlightenment scholar born in Oliva
Historical milestone
Gregori Mayans i Siscar was born in Oliva in 1699. A jurist, royal librarian and scholar, he published in 1737 the first biography of Cervantes and kept up a correspondence with half of Europe, which made him the central figure of the Valencian Enlightenment.
Flood of 3 November 1987
Historical milestone
The storm of 3 November 1987 left 817 litres per square metre in Oliva in twenty-four hours, the greatest daily rainfall recorded in Spain. The overflowing of ravines flooded the marsh and the market gardens of Oliva, Gandia and Pego for days.