Castle of la Atalaya, in Villena.

Villena is a city located in the province of Alicante, Spain. It has an area of 345.6 km² and, according to the 2002 census, a total population of 32,892 inhabitants. The river Vinalopó flows through the municipal term of Villena. The economy of the city is based on footwear (like in the neighbouring cities of Elda and Novelda), pottery, furnitures and wines. Image File history File links From ca. ... Image File history File links From ca. ... Location of Alicante province in Spain. ... High-heeled shoe Footwear consists of garments worn on the feet. ... ELDA, more correctly ELDA+, is also the acronym for the European Lighting Designers Association. ... Novelda is a town located in the province of Alicante, Spain. ... A man shapes pottery as it turns on a wheel. ... Furniture is the collective term for the movable objects which support the human body (seating furniture and beds), provide storage, and hold objects on horizontal surfaces above the ground. ... A glass of red wine Wine display at the Mt Markey Winery This article is about the beverage. ...

Villena was settled by Iberians. After the Moor invasion of the Iberian Peninsula, the king James II of Aragon reconquered the city in 1304, establishing a marquessade in this area. Iberia can mean: The Iberian peninsula of southwest Europe; That part of it inhabited by the Iberians, speaking the Iberian language. ... For the terrain type, see: Heath (habitat). ... topographic map of the Iberian Peninsula The Iberian Peninsula, or Iberia, is located in the extreme southwest of Europe. ... James II, King of Aragon (10 August 1267 – 2 November 1327), in Spanish Jaime II, in Catalan Jaume II, also James II of Barcelona, called The Just (Catalan: El Just) was the second son of Peter III of Aragon and Constance of Sicily. ... For other uses, see Reconquista (Disambiguation). ... Events 20 July - Fall of Stirling Castle: Edward I of England takes the last rebel stronghold in the Wars of Scottish Independence. ... A marquess is a nobleman of hereditary rank in Europe, China, and Japan. ...

Some places of tourist interest in Villena are: the Municipal Palace, which keeps the Treasure of Villena, an Iberian treasure; the Castle of la Atalaya, constructed by the Arabs in the 11th century; the late Gothic Catholic church of Santiago and the Archeological Museum. It is also important its festival of Moros y Cristianos. Treasure is a concentration of riches, often that which is considered lost or forgotten until being rediscovered. ... For other uses, see Arab (disambiguation). ... Besides its original meaning, of or relating to the Goths, a Germanic tribe and thus the Gothic language and the Gothic alphabet, the word Gothic has been used to refer to distinctly different things: From a Renaissance perspective (originally Italian, gotico, with connotations of rough, barbarous), it conveyed the opposite... Parade of a Christian filà of Moros y Cristianos festival in Alcoy. ...

The Spanish zarzuela composer Ruperto Chapí was born in Villena in 1851. Zarzuela (IPA /θarθwela/) is the Spanish lyrical opera. ... 1852 was a common year starting on Wednesday (see link for calendar). ...

External Links

• Villena.net, in Spanish.