(Redirected from Xativa)
'Xàtiva' (
Spanish: ''Játiva'' or ''San Felipe de Játiva'') is a town of eastern
Spain, in the province of
Valencia, on the right bank of the river Albaida and at the junction of the
Valencia–
Murcia and Valencia
Albacete railways. Xàtiva is built on the margin of a fertile and beautiful plain, and on the southern slopes of the Monte Bernisa, a hill with two peaks, each surmounted by a castle. With its numerous fountains, and spacious avenues shaded with elms or cypresses, the town has a clean and attractive appearance. Its collegiate church, dating from
1414, but rebuilt about a century later in the Renaissance style, was formerly a cathedral, and is the chief among many churches and convents. The town-hall and a church on the castle hill are partly constructed of inscribed Roman masonry, and several houses date from the
Moorish period. There is a brisk local trade in grain, fruit, wine, olive oil and rice. The leading football club is
CD Olimpic Xàtiva
Xativa is also known as an early European center of paper manufacture. In the twelfth century, arabs brought the technology to manufacture paper to Xativa.
Birthplace of the painter
José Ribera "Spagnoletto" and of
Pope Alexander VI, it suffered a dark moment in its history at the hands of
Philip V of Spain, who, after his victory in the
Battle of Almansa in the
War of the Spanish Succession, ordered the city to be burned, changing its name to ''San Felipe''. In memory of the insult, the portrait of the monarch hangs upside down in the local museum of L'Almodí
[1]).
External links
★
Official site