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Castelló de Rugat

We arrive to Castelló de Rugat, the end of the route we began many kilometres before.

This has not always been the name of the town, as throughout history it has had different names. On the one hand, it was called “Castelló del Duc” because it was part of the dukedom of Gandía (duc means “duke” in Valencian language), which belonged to the Borja family. On the other hand, it was also called “Castelló de les Gerres”, as a clear reference to the relevant ceramic industry this town had. In the past, they made handcrafted jugs to store wine, water and oil, and nowadays that tradition has resulted in a ceramic production of bricks, blocks and tiles.

We recommend the visitor to go for a walk through the interesting spots of Castelló de Rugat and admire the urban structure, whose origin is Arab in the oldest part, as well as the civil and religious architecture.

The old Borja's palace was the most important civil building of the village. Unfortunately, nowadays you can only find the remains of some walls and part of a tower which is next to new buildings of the 20th century.

The “Casa del Fang” (clay handicrafts museum) is a tribute and a documentation centre about this traditional activity. At the same time, this house is like a workshop where the visitor can learn this discipline.

The “Horno de la Gerreria” (18th century) is a good example of what we are talking about. This is the oldest kiln in Castelló de Rugat, which was part of an old “cantarería” (place where jugs were made) that stopped working at the beginning of the 20th century.

The Cistern (or Medieval Tank), with a circular structure and pinnacle-shaped, collected the water that came from the chapel for its later use. This construction was part of the infrastructure which supplied water to the inhabitants. At the same time, the “Fuente Mayor”, the “Balsa de la Fuente” and the public washing place were part of that infrastructure. The present appearance of these elements is the result of different alterations made during the 19th century.

Regarding the religious architecture, we can talk about the presence of several examples from two different types of religion.

The first one is the Catholic cult, which is reflected in Asunción's Parish Church (built in the 16th century with later alterations of the 17th and 18th centuries). Its ground plan has a Classicist structure and the inside is in Baroque style. The Chapel of San Antonio Abad and Santa Bárbara is another building dedicated to the Catholic cult and is located on a hill, from where there are magnificent views over the region of “La Vall d'Albaida”. It has one nave, a portico and a bell tower with Arab tiles, and was built at the end of the 17th century.

The other system of religious worship of this town was the Muslim religion. It is worth mentioning the Arab Mosque and its elaborate decoration with ceramic tiles. In the inside we can identify the most outstanding elements of this type of constructions, such as the prayer room, the mihrab, the Quibla wall and the outdoor courtyard, also called the ablutions courtyard.

We are sure the specialities of Castelló de Rugat will exceed all expectations of the most demanding guests. Thus, the gastronomy is characterized by the “coques de dacsa” cooked in the oven, different types of homemade sausages, grilled sardines or different bar snacks typical of the area. At the same time, especially noteworthy are the “blat picat” or the “arròs amb cassola”, traditional dishes of the route throughout the Benicadell.