Sella (Alicante)

Sella municipality
coat of arms	Map of Spain
Basic data
Autonomous Community :	Valencia
Province :	Alicante
Comarca :	Marina Baja
Coordinates	38 ° 47 '  N , 0 ° 16'  E Coordinates: 38 ° 47 '  N , 0 ° 16'  E
Height :	429  msnm
Area :	38.72 km²
Residents :	580 (Jan. 1, 2019)
Population density :	14.98 inhabitants / km²
Postal code :	03579
Municipality number  ( INE ):	03124
Nearest airport :	Alicante
administration
Official language :	Castilian , Valencian
Mayor :	Natalia Hernández Ferrer
Website :	www.sella.es
Location of the municipality

Sella is a Spanish municipality on the Costa Blanca in the Alicante province of the autonomous Valencian Community .

Sella is a mountain village in the Sierra de Aitana which has not been developed for tourism . The next larger city is Villajoyosa, 16 kilometers away on the Mediterranean coast . Other cities nearby are Benidorm and Alicante .

history

Sella’s first buildings were built around a Moorish fort. A settlement of Moriscos was formed , which was subordinate to the Count of Cocentaina . Before the expulsion of the Moriscos in 1609 by King Philip III. the settlement had 115 houses. Chroniclers complain that entire areas were deserted by this displacement.

At the instigation of the sovereigns, Majorcan immigrants were subsequently settled in Sella . Sella received its own church in 1574.

In the twentieth century, Sella steadily lost inhabitants due to migration to the coast. The population fell from 1,856 in 1887 to 1,410 in 1930, 1,260 in 1960 and 566 in 1991. Since the beginning of the 21st century, the number of residents has increased again due to the influx of northern and central European residents and Spanish holiday home owners. The quota of foreigners in 2005 was 14 percent, among foreign citizens the British and Germans are the largest groups.

economy

The most important branches of the economy are agriculture, especially the cultivation of almonds , and increasingly tourism. Sella is developing into a local recreation destination for the Alicante and Benidorm metropolitan areas.

Worth seeing

Sella is the starting point for hikes through the Sierra de Aitana mountain region , the highest peak of which, Pico de Aitana, reaches an altitude of 1,558 meters.

In the center of the village are the Santa Bárbara castle , a former mill and the traditional washing place of the village ( lavadero ). The narrow streets of the village on the mountainside are popular as a photo motif.

The Divina Aurora village festival is celebrated in the first week of October .

Individual evidence

1. ↑ Cifras oficiales de población resultantes de la revisión del Padrón municipal a 1 de enero . Population statistics from the Instituto Nacional de Estadística (population update).