Valencia

Valencia was founded as a Roman colony, Valentia Edetanorum, in 138 BC, on the alluvial plain of the Turia a few kilometres from the sea; its name means "valour", for the veteran soldiers settled there. After the Visigoths, the city surrendered to the Moors around 714. Under Islamic rule new irrigation and crops arrived, and in the 11th century it became the head of an independent taifa. El Cid took it by force in 1094 and held it until his death; on 28 September 1238 it surrendered to James I of Aragon and became the capital of the Kingdom of Valencia.

The 15th century was the Valencian Golden Age. Trade with Italy and the Mediterranean made it the most populous city of the Crown of Aragon, silk-making flourished, and the Serranos and Quart gates, the Miguelete tower and the Silk Exchange were built. Decline followed: Barbary piracy, the shift of trade to the Atlantic, and the expulsion of the Moriscos in 1609. After backing the losing side in the War of the Spanish Succession, the kingdom lost its own laws in 1707, though silk weaving and ceramic tiles revived the 18th-century economy.

The walls came down from 1865, oranges enriched the surrounding farmland, and Art Nouveau markets and the North Station went up in the early 20th century. Valencia was the seat of the Republican government from November 1936 to October 1937 and was bombed hundreds of times. After a flood in October 1957 killed 81 people, the Turia was diverted south of the city and its old bed became a park. Since 1982 the city has been capital of the Valencian Community; the City of Arts and Sciences, the America's Cup races of 2007 and the titles of World Design Capital 2022 and European Green Capital 2024 followed.

Valencia's great festival is the Falles. From 1 March firecracker displays called mascletàes shake the city hall square every afternoon, and from 15 to 19 March neighbourhood groups raise huge satirical figures of famous people and topical subjects, competing for prizes. On the night of 19 March, St Joseph's Day, nearly all of them are burned in the cremà. The tradition grew from carpenters burning waste wood on the saint's feast and is now listed by UNESCO as intangible heritage. The seaside districts hold their own Holy Week, the Semana Santa Marinera.

The city is bilingual. Valencian and Spanish are both official, and Valencian — banned in schools under Franco — is now taught to every child, though a 2019 survey found three-quarters of residents use only Spanish in daily life. The question of the language and of the city's name, València, remains political. Older institutions survive: the Water Tribunal has met outside the cathedral since Moorish times, and an international contest for wind bands has been held every year since 1886.

Valencia is known for its ceramics and traditional dress, for Calatrava's architecture, and for football: Valencia CF play at Mestalla, and Levante UD are the city's other club. A lively nightlife keeps bars and beach clubs open well past midnight.

About 824,000 people lived in the city in 2025, making it the third-largest in Spain, and the urban area beyond its limits holds about 1.6 million. The economy is overwhelmingly service-based, with tourism, trade, education and conventions; the port is the biggest on the western Mediterranean coast and handles a fifth of the country's exports, and Ford builds cars at nearby Almussafes. The surrounding huerta, the irrigated market gardens and citrus groves, still reaches the edge of the city.

The city is divided into districts from the old city and the 19th-century Eixample to the seaside Poblats Marítims and a ring of small villages within the municipality, including El Palmar and El Saler by the lagoon. The foreign-born population grew quickly in the 2000s, and in 2022 Valencia was voted the world's top destination for expatriates.

The floods of October 2024, which devastated towns in the Valencia area, left a deep mark on the region; the regional president resigned in November 2025 amid criticism of the response. Daily life follows the Spanish pattern of late lunches and later dinners, with weekends at the beach or in the Turia Garden.

Paella was born in Valencia. Paella valenciana, which Valencians insist is the only true paella, is made with Valencian rice, olive oil, rabbit, chicken or duck, sometimes snails, saffron, tomato, flat green beans and lima beans, cooked in a wide pan. Other rice dishes are as local: arròs a banda, rice cooked in fish stock and usually served with alioli; arròs negre, coloured black with squid ink and made with cuttlefish or squid; and fideuà, a seafood dish like paella but made with noodles instead of rice. Esgarraet, a salad of roasted red pepper torn into strips with salt cod, garlic and olive oil, is a typical tapa.

Valencia is also the home of horchata — orxata de xufa — a cold, sweet drink of soaked and ground tiger nuts, which arrived in Iberia under Muslim rule. It is drunk with fartons, long, spongy, sugar-glazed pastries from the neighbouring town of Alboraia, made for dipping. Bunyols, fritters, are another local sweet. Agua de Valencia, a cocktail of cava, orange juice, vodka and gin, was first mixed in a city bar in 1959.

The Mercado Central is the place to see the raw ingredients, and Ruzafa, El Carmen and the beach promenade are where much of the city eats out.