Village
Ontinyent is the capital and the largest municipality of the district of La Vall d'Albaida, in the south of the province of Valencia, with 37,012 inhabitants (INE 2025) and a textile tradition. It stands on the banks of the river Clariano, in a mountainous relief closed to the west by the Serra Grossa. Settlement of the district goes back to the final Neolithic, with sites such as the Arenal de la Costa, but it reached its greatest development during the Bronze Age, between 1900 and 900 BC, when a network of hierarchical settlements arose, of which the Cabezo de Navarro is the most important, with finds of pottery and copper and bronze implements.
Monument
The Museu Fester de Ontinyent, opened in 2001, displays a collection of emblematic pieces on the city's Moors and Christians festival, recognised as a Fiesta of National Tourist Interest. Across its three floors, the tour shows photographs, costumes, models and posters that trace more than 150 years of the festival's history. The ground floor exhibits the posters that have announced the festivities under the title Crit de la Festa; on the first floor, the costume room traces the evolution of the comparsas' outfits, including those of two now-vanished ones, the Xurros and the Cavallets; and on the second floor, devoted to the roles of captains, ambassadors and banderers, there is a space dedicated to the Crist de l'Agonia, patron of the festivities.
Curiosity
Ontinyent has traditionally been a centre of the Valencian textile industry, historically the most important economic activity in the comarca of La Vall d'Albaida.
Activity
The Moors and Christians festival of Ontinyent, in the comarca of the Vall d'Albaida, commemorates the Christian conquest of the town by Jaume I in the 13th century, although its origin goes back to the celebrations linked to the Battle of Lepanto in 1571. It is held every year from the third Sunday of August, with the main events between the Thursday and Monday of the fourth week of the month. Its current format, with parades, processions and embassies between Moorish and Christian comparsas, was established in 1860, inspired by similar festivals in Alcoy, Cocentaina and Villena. Interrupted during the Civil War, it resumed in 1939. Declared of Tourist Interest in 1972, National in 2010 and International in 2024, it is one of the most important festive celebrations in the comarca.
Monument
The church of Santa María, in the old town of Ontinyent (Vall d'Albaida), combines Romanesque, Gothic and Renaissance styles, and its bell tower, 72 metres tall, is the highest in the Comunitat Valenciana. Declared a Bien de Interés Cultural (Spain's highest level of heritage protection) in 1974, it stands on an earlier temple, itself built on an old mosque, which the earthquake of 1258 badly damaged; the present building, in Valencian Gothic style, was erected between the 14th and 15th centuries. Its façade combines different periods, from the Plateresque doorway of 1530 to the Neoclassical one of the chapel; inside it preserves a 15th-century Flemish altarpiece of the Annunciation, the original Gothic baptismal font and 20th-century carvings by Marià Benlliure. The bell tower began to be built in 1689 and took twenty years, later suffering the earthquake of 1748.
Monument
Puente Viejo (Old Bridge) of Ontinyent, built between 1520 and 1521, in a city with a textile tradition whose Gran Feria dates back to 1418 and whose Iglesia de Santa María boasts the tallest bell tower in the Comunitat Valenciana, at 72 meters.
Monument
Convento de Carmelitas (Carmelite Convent) of Ontinyent, built between 1500 and 1501, in a city where the Canto de la Sibila (Song of the Sibyl) is performed every 22nd of December, documented since 1662.
Nature
Natural monument of Ontinyent where the Clariano river has carved bathing pools of great beauty into the rock. It is a spring of very crystalline waters: Pascual Madoz's dictionary, in the mid-19th century, already noted that fish could be seen swimming from the mouth of the pool. It lies in the very bed of the Clariano, shortly after a reservoir, before the river continues north beyond Ontinyent, and today it is a place of well-regarded recreational value.
Curiosity
The Song of the Sibyl of Ontinyent is a liturgical drama performed every 22 December, together with the Song of the Angels, documented since 1662. It has been performed in Latin since the year 2000, during the matins before Christmas, and is organised by the early-music group Menestrils and the Colla de Campaners d'Ontinyent, under the direction of Francesc Tortosa. Unlike Mallorca or Alguer, where the tradition has been maintained continuously, in Ontinyent it is a modern revival of this medieval piece.
Activity
The Gran Feria of Ontinyent dates back to 1418, when King Alfonso V of Aragon granted this privilege to the town, then a royal town of the former Kingdom of Valencia and an important commercial and social hub; it began as an agricultural market and has today become a large commercial event with recreational attractions, amusement stalls, general trade and a car fair, Firauto. It is held on the weekend of the third Sunday of November, from Saturday to Monday, being one of the two local public holidays, although the attractions remain for weeks before and after on the paseo de la Feria and the Recinto Ferial.
Activity
The festivities of the Purísima Concepción of Ontinyent, canonical patron saint of the city, are celebrated between late November and early December. They include toros embolados, with the animals running through a closed circuit of streets in one-hour shifts, with balls attached to their horns controlled by ropes. On 8 December a civic-religious procession takes place with giants and bigheads, archers, knights and dancers who precede the processional cross; the image of the Purísima is the work of the Valencian silversmith Agustín Devesa Olmos. Around the bullring, concerts and DJ sessions are also organised, livening up the festive nights.