Sagunto

View of the city with the church of Santa Maria in the center

City of Sagunto

Hermitage of Soledad

High furnace in the Port of Sagunto

Sagunto (co-officially in Valencian Sagunt, historically known as Murviedro, Morvedre in Valencian) is a municipality and a city in the Valencia province, north of the Valencian Community, Spain. It is the capital of the Campo de Murviedro region. With 66,140 inhabitants (INE 2019), it is the tenth most populous municipality in the Valencian Community. The municipality belongs to the second crown of the metropolitan area of Valencia.

The municipality has two main nuclei: the historic quarter or Sagunto-City, located at the foot of the castle and the Roman theater, and the Port of Sagunto, 2.5 kilometers from the historic quarter. The citizens are distributed among these 6 km that separate the beach from the old Roman castle, living a large part of them (40,436) in the center of Puerto de Sagunto.

Geography

Integrated in the region of Campo de Murviedro, it is located 28 kilometers from the Valencian capital. Sagunto is located on the banks of the Palancia River. The river is slightly winding and has a strong gradient up to the outskirts of the city of Sagunto itself. After skirting the city center, it ends up in an alluvial cone, more properly than a true delta, since its slope is 5.7 per thousand in the last 4 kilometers, higher than normal for deltas.

The coast is low and sandy, covered in dunes. Its climax vegetation can now be considered as disappeared and must have been dominated by the holm oak. Today there are some Aleppo pine forests in the mountains closest to the sea. Among the best species, the most abundant are rosemary and mastic in the mountains; and the senile, the vogue and the trencadalles in the coastal marshes. Its climate is Mediterranean.

Sagunto gives its name to Sheet 668 of the National Topographic Map.

The orography of the municipality is defined by the foothills of Sierra Calderona to the southwest, where they reach 466 meters (Agua Amarga peak), another mountainous area to the northwest that exceeds 450 meters of altitude (Alto de Cerverola), the surroundings of the Palancia river, next to which rise isolated hills such as Tossal del Rotó (252 meters) or Penya Negra (323 meters), the pre-coastal, where the historic center stands, and the coast of Sagunto where the port is located.

The altitude oscillates between 480 meters to the northwest (Lomas de Cerverola) and sea level. The old town stands 46 meters above sea level, although the castle is located on a mountain at an altitude of 140 meters.

Neighboring towns

Northwest: Algar de Palancia, Alfara de la Baronía, Algimia de Alfara	North: Soneja (Castellón), Alfondeguilla (Castellón) and Vall de Uxó (Castellón)	Northeast: Almenara (Castellón), Quart de les Valls, Benifairó de los Valles, Faura, Cuartell (exclave) and Benavites
West: Torres Torres, Estivella, Albalat de Taronchers, Petrés and Gilet		This: Canet de Berenguer and Mediterranean Sea
Southwest: Albalat de Taronchers	South: The Puig and Puzol	Sureste: Mediterranean Sea

Map of the municipality

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Interactive map — Sagunto and its municipality

Neighborhoods and districts

The municipality of Sagunto has two main population centers: the Old City (Sagunto-City) and the Port of Sagunto. Besides, there are also the following smaller population centers:

Headings and subheadings

The municipality of Sagunto is divided into three parts:

• Montiver departure. It's the biggest game of the term. It is located north of the border and borders to the south with the Palancia River. It consists of 84 subheadings.
• Departure from Gausa. The largest number of kilometres of road from the term is concentrated. In it is the Municipal Cemetery of Sagunto-City. They form 53 subheadings.
• From La Vila. Smaller departure in extension of the three and in which are the two most important nuclei of population. It consists of 19 subheadings.

Urbanizations

Beaches

History

From ancient Ars to Saguntum

The city of Sagunto is already mentioned in some texts of classical literature, relating it to events that occurred in the Second Punic War. The Iberian oppidum of Arse, is located on the mountain of Castell de Sagunt, becoming over time the Roman Saguntum. His participation In commercial circles it has been documented since the VI century BC. C. in the Grau Vell, and its growing importance led it to become a strategic point of commercial relations in the Mediterranean.

Roman epitaph reused in the central part of the staircase of the church of Santa Maria. Dedicated to Caio Voconio Plácido, who performed several judges in the municipium Saguntum.

The Ibero-Edetan city was besieged by General Hannibal in the year 219 B.C. C. due to its strategic location. The siege lasted eight months and the inhabitants of Saguntum based their strategy on Hannibal not being able to cross the enormous walls that surrounded the city in a short time. Despite the refusal of help from the surrounding regions, which feared the growing power of Saguntum over the towns of the region, they were able to resist the attacks of the Carthaginian army to take the city. The situation became untenable after the negligence and delay of the Roman Republic in sending aid to the Saguntines. The demoralized city was able to resist a few more months before an army greater in number and resources; It must be borne in mind that the army that besieged the city had been formed with the ultimate goal of taking over Rome, as well as being commanded by one of the great warlords of antiquity. After several weeks of frontal assaults Saguntum fell. Hannibal had three motives for taking the city without causing it severe damage: to finance his expedition to Rome with the riches obtained from the plunder; incorporate into his ranks the majority of men capable of his incursion and leave his brother Asdrúbal a stronghold closer to Qart Hadasht (present-day Cartagena) and so it happened. A very "romantic" of the taking of Saguntum, which is not true: After the conquest, Hannibal found himself with a desolate city, partially destroyed and burned. This infuriated the Carthaginian who had sacrificed time, soldiers and resources in the conquest of the city. Legend has it that the Saguntines, not receiving help from the Romans, refused to surrender and decided to light a large bonfire and throw themselves into it. The fall of Ars marked the start of the Second Punic War between Carthage and the Republic of Rome.

Castle. Overview

Seven years later the city was recaptured by the Romans, and renamed Saguntum. In 214 B.C. C., it began to be administered as a municipium (Roman municipality); the Romans built a large circus in the lower part of the city and a theater with a capacity for eight thousand spectators. Documents have also been found in which it seems to reflect that the city could have had an amphitheater and that in Roman times its territory reached 50,000 inhabitants.

After the fall of the Western Roman Empire, the city was attacked and nearly destroyed by the Germanic peoples from the north of the empire.

Middle Ages

The Arabs took the city in 713. From this time is when the place name Saguntum changed to Morbyter and other variants and would later be called Murviedro in Spanish and Murvedre or Morvedre in Valencian, names derived from the muri veteres ("old walls", "veteran walls") from the Middle Ages. After the Arab invasion, it began its decline in favor of Balansiya (Valencia).

In 1239 the city was conquered by James I the Conqueror, King of the Crown of Aragon.

Jewish Quarter

Jewish Tomb in Sagunto

The Jewish quarter was of outstanding importance, especially due to the fact that the presence of Jews in the city of Valencia was not allowed; so that fluid contact was established between the Jews of Murviedro and the converts who could remain in the capital of the kingdom. The location of the Jewish quarter would be around the street dels Antigons (name that refers to "the ancients", due to the proximity of the Roman Theatre). Salomó el rau (Solomon the rabbi) lived there in 1390 (on the eve of the anti-Jewish revolt of 1391). la Sangre, which was later moved to another location. The gate of the Jewish quarter (or Portal de la juheria ) is currently called Portalet de la Sanch . In 1394 two taules ('butcher's tables') of the Jew Samuel Legem were established there, by concession of King James II of Aragon, in exchange for an annual census of two morabetinos from gold. In Segovia street some houses of Jews from medieval times are preserved.

Castle of Sagunto

Modern and Contemporary Age

In the 18th century, Sagunto was known as Murviedro and Antonio José de Cavanilles refers to the growth of its population:

In 1749 he only had 938 neighbors and today counts 1515. This increase is due to the progress of agriculture. The hills and hills abandoned before today are cultivated with spice; they do not see erials or neglect.

Antonio José Cavanilles ()

During the Spanish war of independence, Sagunto was taken by the French. In 1811 the city was besieged for 34 days, during which some 2,900 Spanish soldiers established in the castle defended themselves from attacks by Mariscal Suchet's men. On October 26, Colonel Andriani, appointed governor of the town, surrendered after the defeat suffered the previous day by the Spanish army in the so-called battle of Sagunto. The French, after the bravery shown by the Spanish soldiers in the battle, let them leave Sagunto alive. They reinforced the defenses of the castle, topped the bell towers and remained in the town until May 22, 1814.

In 1868, the new Provisional Government changed the name of the city, called Murviedro for more than ten centuries, by the old Roman name of Sagunto, following the romantic and classicist canons of the time: Murviedro was restored by the glorious name of Sagunto.

It was in Sagunto where, in December 1874, the military uprising headed by General Martínez Campos would take place, which put an end to the First Republic and originated the period of Spanish History known as the Bourbon Restoration. King Alfonso XII grants the title of city to the already "Muy Ilustre y Leal Villa" for having been the first population to recognize him as king.

At the beginning of the 20th century, a powerful steel industry developed around the Port of Sagunto, giving rise to the current urban center of the Port. When the Civil War broke out in 1936, the city became important for the war industry of the Republican side - it housed, among others, various ammunition factories. It was also the object of multiple bombardments by the National Aviation, sometimes several times a day; This caused the civilian population —which received public recognition from the President of the Government, Juan Negrín— to be evacuated to neighboring towns in January 1938. Taking Sagunto at the end of the war, Franco's troops installed a camp in April 1939 concentration for prisoners at the Los Valles Station, apparently provisionally.

In the 1980s, due to industrial restructuring and the economic crisis, the last blast furnace was closed. It should be noted that all history related to the Port of Sagunto is part of Sagunto, since the two population centers are part of the same municipality. The city was subsequently declared an industrial zone, which favored a greater diversification of its productive sector (cement, chemicals) and a specialization of the iron and steel sector, attracting investment from large companies, such as the Arcelor group or ThyssenKrupp.

In 2022, Volkswagen announced the construction of its first battery plant outside of Germany in Sagunto, as long as it is subsidized by around €750 million.

Demographics

Sagunto had 66,070 inhabitants in 2009, making it the fourth city in the province of Valencia with the largest population. Its demographic weight is due to the installation of important steel industries on its coast at the beginning of the XX century, forming the current urban nucleus from the Port of Sagunto.

In the historic center of Sagunto, the use of Valencian is common, while in the Port of Sagunto, where most of the population lives, Spanish is the predominant language.

Administration and politics

2019 election results

Municipal elections of May 26, 2019
Party		Candidate	Votes		Councillors
Socialist Party of the Valencian Country-PSOE		Darío Moreno Lerga	6975	23.31%	7	4
Compromis per Sagunt		Josep Francesc Fernández Carrasco	5453	18.22%	5	=
Porteña Initiative		Manuel González Sánchez	4975	16.63%	5	2
Popular Party		Sergio Ramón Muniesa Franco	3732	12.47%	3	1
United Esquerra del País Valencià		Guillermo Sampedro Ruiz	2773	9.27%	2	2
Citizens - Citizens' Party		Salva Montesinos Zamorano	2527	7.2%	2	=
Vox		Alejandro Vila Polo	1614	5.39%	1	1
Podem / We Can (In Comú Podem)		Sergio Moreno Montañez	1399	4.68%	0
Source: Ministry of the Interior.

City Hall

Mayors since the 1979 elections

Period	Name	Party
1979-1983	Manuel Carbó Juan	PSPV-PSOE
1983-1987	José García Felipe Francisco Crispín Sanchís	PSPV-PSOE
1987-1991	José García Felipe	CIPS
1991-1995	Manuel Girona i Rubio	PSPV-PSOE
1995-1999	Manuel Girona i Rubio Silvestre Borràs Azcona	PSPV-PSOE PPCV
1999-2003	Silvestre Borràs Azcona	PPCV
2003-2007	Calero Albal	PSPV-PSOE
2007-2011	Alfredo Castelló Sáez	PPCV
2011-2015	Alfredo Castelló Sáez Sergio Muniesa Franco	PPCV
2015-2019	Josep Francesc Fernández Carrasco	Commitments
2019-	Darío Moreno Lerga	PSPV-PSOE

Economy

High operating furnaces, 1951

Its economy is based mainly on the steel industry and the export of citrus fruits. Within the cultivated land, rainfed crops prevail such as carob trees, olive trees and some vines and almonds; while irrigated crops are characterized by orange trees and other fruit trees.

Until the 19th century it was essentially a wine-producing town, exporting wines and spirits to France. After the destruction of the vineyards by phylloxera at the beginning of this century and the conversion of dry land to irrigated land, the vineyards were replaced by sour ones.

There is evidence of fishing activity in the city of Sagunto from the 14th-15th centuries in the towns of Grau Vell and Almardà. It is true that this activity was carried out by hand, with rowing boats that slept on the beach. With the construction of the fishing port, all fishing activity was concentrated in said area.

Industrialization occurred in the 20th century. In 1900, Ramón de la Sota and Eduardo Aznar, Basque businessmen, founded the Sierra Menera Mining Company to exploit the deposits of Ojos Negros (Teruel) and Setiles (Guadalajara) and established a shipping port on the coast of Sagunto for the export of iron ore extracted in said mines. This is how the Port of Sagunto was born. For this reason, the railway (inaugurated in 1907) was built from Sierra Menera to Puerto de Sagunto and the pier in 1909. These businessmen laid the first stone of what would be one of the most important steel mills in the Mediterranean in 1917 and in 1920 began the construction of the Blast Furnace no. 1. In 1926 the Blast Furnace no. In 1940 the facilities were sold to Altos Hornos de Vizcaya, which promoted the IV Integral Steel Plant project, which could not be fully developed and in 1984 it was closed, and its facilities dismantled, leaving only Blast Furnace No. 2 standing. and two of its industrial warehouses.

Although Sagunto suffered a major crisis at the time of the conversion in the early 90s, in the second half of the decade, the situation began to improve remarkably.

Large companies settled there, attracted by the advantages derived from the conversion process. On the other hand, the opening of the seaport to general commercial traffic and its consequent expansion, produce a notable economic impulse that translates into unprecedented employment and income generation.

This process is intended to be relaunched at the end of the first decade of the XXI century with an improvement in the infrastructures (expansion of the maritime port, improvement of the road network - Sagunto Somport axis-, railway, industrial estates...), and the creation of Parc Sagunt. Due to its size and media emphasis, this was called to be the largest industrial park in Europe, structuring its almost 15 million square meters in 4 activity districts: Steel + SMEs + Chemical + Industry. Its activity should encourage the Port of Sagunto to become an innovative center (of which the Mediterranean region lacks) capable of competing with international strategies and serving as a structuring and backbone element of the territory, both in the Valencian Community and in the Mediterranean Arc.

This important project was carried out by the company Parque Empresarial de Sagunto S.L., constituted by the Generalitat Valenciana through SEPIVA and by SEPI through Sepides. However, all forecasts vanished with the economic situation that was generated from 2007 and the current reality is that of an underutilized industrial estate.

In the year 2022, the Government of Spain, through the Next Generation Plan, presents a calculation of aid for the country's automotive industry, which several multinationals opt for, including Ford, which has already been operating in the Valencian Community since the end of from the 1970s and Volkswagen, a multinational with a presence in Spain since the mid-1980s with two production plants; one in Martorell, (Barcelona) and another in Landaben, (Pamplona).

In addition to the agreements that have been in place since 2018 between the manufacturer Ford Almusafes (Valencia), and Volkswagen for the manufacture of the new ranges of jointly manufactured electric vans and cars.

Therefore, and under this condition, the German manufacturer Volkswagen announces in June 2022 to the media that it will build the first Gigafactory for electric batteries in Spain in the town of Sagunto (Valencia) where it has already acquired the land for its location.

In November 2022, it also reports the first economic allocation to the group by the Government of Spain through the PERTE 1 plan, with an initial amount of 397'00 Million Euros.

The Generalitat Valenciana, in turn, also informs of another economic allocation to the German manufacturer for a value of 167'00 million Euros.

Volkswagen, like Ford, also announces that it will make the respective request to the PERTE 2 Plan, which will open in the first quarter of 2023, to qualify for the funds, since the manufacturer expects to make a total investment, counting on that, a high percentage, come from the origin of public aid from the state and Autonomous Communities; for an approximate value and amount of about 10,000'00 million Euros in Spain, also carrying out with these the adequacy of the plants for the manufacture of the different models of the Group's brands and of the joint models that will come out of the 2 synergies of the German-American manufacturers and that will make up the new ranges of new generation electric vehicles from both manufacturers.

These future production vehicles will be equipped with Lithium Batteries manufactured in the new plant in Sagunto, (Valencia). Gigafactoria, which will also supply all of southern Europe.

Services

Transportation

Roads

• Autopista del Mediterráneo (AP-7), which connects with Castellón and Valencia.
• Via V-23, which serves as access to the port of Sagunto.
• Autovía A-23 (Autovía Mudéjar), heading towards Segorbe and Teruel.
• National Highway N-234: Conventional alternative to A-23.
• National highway N-225: une Vall de Uxó with Algar de Palancia.
• National highway N-340, between pK 933 and 939, a conventional alternative to the AP-7 that reappears in a connection with the V-23 motorway.
• National highway N-237, urbanized road linking Sagunto with Port de Sagunt.
• Carretera autonomic CV-309: unites the V-21 motorway at the height of Puzol with Puerto de Sagunto.
• Carretera autonomic CV-314: unites Sagunto with road CV-324.
• Carretera autonomic CV-317: une Sagunto con Canet de Berenguer.
• Carretera autonomic CV-320: unites Puerto de Sagunto with Torres Torres.
• Carretera autonomic CV-324: allows access to Petrés from CV-314.

Railway

Sagunto has a Renfe station where there are many trains that stop and provide service, from long-distance trains, Regional trains and the Cercanías themselves. The commuter lines are the following:

• C5. València - Sagunto - Caudiel.
• C6. València - Castellón de la Plana.

Bus

The city has several interurban lines that serve many nearby towns and the city of Valencia. The vast majority of them are managed by the company Autos Vallduxense (AVSA) under the commercial brand of the MetroBús (yellow buses), of the Generalitat Valenciana, although we can also find other lines.

The lines are as follows:

Other lines that are not part of the MetroBús but provide service are the following:

• L310: Les Valls - Canet d'en Berenguer - Playa Canet - Port de Sagunt - Sagunt
• L320: València - Sagunt - La Vall d'Uixó.
• Puerto Sagunto - Estivella - Segorbe - Height. (Autocares Herca SL)

For many years the city has had an urban service that connects the two largest centers Sagunto and Puerto de Sagunto, even having some expedition to Canet d'en Berenguer. Many years ago SALTUV created a company called first SALTUS and later became SALTUYS that provided urban service between the two nuclei when the company AVSA began to operate the Valencia line, the first was left alone to make the lines of the Port of Sagunto and Canet d'en Berenguer. Disappearing, being AVSA the one that would assume all the services. Currently we find Autos Vallduxense SL (AVSA), under the trademark SUV, "Servei Urbà de Viatgers", the following lines:

Monuments and places of interest

Culture

Sports

In Sagunto there are institutions of practically all existing sports categories such as athletics clubs, chess, gymnastics, wrestling, swimming, table tennis, judo, volleyball, etc., which represent the name of the city at a regional level, national, and even in some cases international (the case of Sagunto Handball, Club de Lucha Ares and Club de Lucha Camp de Morvedre). Likewise, there are also two basketball clubs: Club Bàsquet Morvedre and Club Baloncesto Puerto Sagunto.

As far as handball is concerned, there are two clubs of important level and prestige:

• Balonmano Sagunto: a female team that is in the highest national division and contests its parties in the René Marigil Pavilion;
• BM Puerto Sagunto: in the 2009/2010 season he got the promotion to the ASOBAL, and he contests his meetings in the Municipal Pavilion, popularly known as "the Ovni".

In relation to soccer clubs in Sagunto, there are eleven clubs (three in the historic center and eight in the Port) registered with the FFCV (of which one is registered in the futsal modality and two exclusively in the modality women's soccer). Of these clubs, only three have reached the military in the national category:

• Atletico Saguntino
• C.D. Steel
• Club Deportivo Ibérico (Club deFootball-sala which currently competes under the name of Atco Morvedre)

Parties

Notable people

View of Sagunto from the castle.

Twinned cities