Logbook · 6 places

What to see and do in Simat de la Valldigna

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

1 Villages · 3 Monuments · 1 Historical milestones · 1 Food and drink

How far each place is from the centre of Simat de la Valldigna

Towns near Simat de la Valldigna

What to see in Benifairó de la Valldigna 1.2 km · 2 places
What to see in Barx 3.5 km · 6 places
What to see in Tavernes de la Valldigna 5 km · 9 places
What to see in Pinet 7.1 km · 2 places
What to see in Xeraco 8.4 km · 5 places
What to see in Xeresa 8.9 km · 8 places
What to see in Barxeta 9.4 km · 3 places
What to see in Favara 9.5 km · 5 places

Spain › Valencian Community › Valencia › La Safor › Simat de la Valldigna

What to see and do in Simat de la Valldigna

Simat de la Valldigna
Village
Simat de la Valldigna is one of the four villages of the Valldigna, a sub-comarca of the Safor, in the province of Valencia, 55 kilometres from the capital, at the foot of Mount Toro. With 3,311 inhabitants, its history is linked to that of the valley, formerly called Alfándech, conquered in 1242-1243 by James I of Aragon. Tradition has it that a king of Aragon, struck by the beauty of the place, told the abbot of Santes Creus “Vall digna per un monestir de la vostra religió”, giving rise to the place name Valldigna. The valley was granted to the Cistercians in 1297 to found the Real Monasterio de Santa María de la Valldigna, near Simat. The municipality enjoys a temperate climate, with warm summers and mild winters, and rainfall among the highest in the Valencian Community.
Monastery of Santa María de la Valldigna
Monument
The monastery of Santa María de la Valldigna was founded on 15 March 1298 by James II of Aragon, who granted this land to the abbot of Santes Creus for a new Cistercian foundation; tradition credits the king with the valley's name, which he is said to have called vall digna for a monastery of that order. The 1835 disentailment brought abandonment and the demolition of a large part of the complex: the baldachin was blown up, and the Gothic arches of the upper cloister were incorporated, between 1920 and 1926, into the Canto del Pico palace in Torrelodones, from where they returned in 2006 after its purchase by the Generalitat in 2003. Today the church, with vaults and a polychrome ceiling, the Portal Nuevo with the coats of arms of the Crown of Aragon and of the abbot, and the restored old oil mill are well preserved.
Spring of los Tritones del Monasterio de la Valldigna
Monument
Baroque 18th-century fountain belonging to the Royal Monastery of Santa María de la Valldigna which, after spending time in the Jardines de Viveros in Valencia following the disentailment, has been returned to its original site.
Hermitage of Santa Ana (antigua mezquita de la Xara)
Monument
Former mosque of the Morisco hamlet of la Xara, converted into a Christian hermitage, a reminder of the Islamic past of the Valldigna before the expulsion of the Moriscos.
The abbot of the Valldigna, lord of the valley
Historical milestone
From 1298 the Cistercian abbot of Santa María de la Valldigna acted as jurisdictional lord of Simat, Benifairó and Tavernes: he appointed the justice and the jurors, collected the tithe third and leased mills and water. The seigneury was extinguished with the nineteenth-century disentailment.
Rice with beans and turnips
Food and drink
Winter stew of the valley: white beans, turnips, cardoon, blood sausage and pig's cheek cooked at length before the rice is added, which is served brothy. It is associated with the domestic pig slaughter and with the months of the orange harvest, when the work called for a spoon dish.