Alcoy (Spain)

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Alcoy/Alcoi

Location

Coordinates : 38°41′54″N, 0°28′25″W
Time zone : CET (GMT +1)
- summer : CEST (GMT +2)

General information

Native name

Alcoi (Catalan)

Spanish name

Alcoy

Administration

Country

Spain

Autonomous Community

Valencian Community

Province

Alicante

Comarca

Alcoià

Geography

Land Area

129.86 km²

Altitude

562 m AMSL

Population

Population

60,590 (2006)

Density

467 hab./km² (2006)

Alcoi (in Valencian) or Alcoy (in Spanish) is a city and municipality located in the province of Alicante, Spain. It has an area of 129.9 km² and, according to 2006 estimates, a total population of 60,590 inhabitants, ranking as the 6th most populous city in the province. Serpis river crosses the municipal term of Alcoi.

Alcoi has an important industry related to textile, paper, food and metal. Furthermore, it has many factories which manufacture matches. Alcoi is the financial, commercial and cultural center in the surrounding area.

Many outdoors rock paintings exist in Alcoi, and there are some ruins of an Iberian settlement with fragments of Greco-Roman pottery.

Some buildings with artistic interest in the city are the Archeological Museum; the convent of Sant Agustí, reconstructed in the 18th century with paintings of the 16th century; and the Catholic church of Santa Maria, whose style is Valencian Baroque. The most important touristic celebration is Moros i Cristians, in April.

The local football club CD Alcoyano is famous across Spain for a proverbial match in which they were facing a very adverse score. When the referee was about to close, the Alcoyano players kept asking for more time to score back and reach a draw^[1]. Thus the phrase tener más moral que el Alcoyano ("to have a greater morale than Alcoyano") ponders an undefatigable person.

Among the relevant "alcoyanos" (people from Alcoy) is Carlos Carbonell Pascual the first Spanish Judo coach to be in charge of another's country judo team (Malta) and also he is the first Spanish to be awarded as an Elite Performance Judo Coach (Level 4).

Singer Camilo Sesto is a native of Alcoy.