History

Archaeological sites belonging to the Neolithic (5,000 BC), Chalcolithic, Bronze Age, Iberian and Roman periods have been discovered. These settlements served as the basis for the establishment of Muslim farms in different parts of the municipal area. 

The origin of Callosa (whose probable meaning is “hard, dry land” in Latin) is an old Muslim farmhouse that, after the Christian reconquest made by King Jaime I of Aragon in the s. XIII, it was acquired in property by Admiral Bernat de Sarrià in 1290, during the reign of Alfonso I of Valencia and III of Aragon, thus becoming its first feudal lord. Hence, from then on the city was renamed Callosa d’en Sarrià (“Callosa del Señor Sarrià”, in Valencian) and became the center of the manor, which came to encompass much of the current region of the Marina Low.

 Since then it was acquired by different noble families, among which we could highlight those of Sarrià (1290-1335), Corona de Aragón (1335-1445), Bou (1445-1560), Moncada (1560-1767) and the Count of Orgaz (1767). Currently, the town’s noble title belongs to the Crespí de Valldaura family.

 The city preserves in its old town part of its medieval urban structure, delimited by the line of walls of the Callosa intramuros, which can still be crossed today through one of its original doors: the Portal. Along this line there is the most traditional image of Callosa with the remains of the walls (14th century) and the Castle (± 1395 – 18th century), declared a Site of Cultural Interest since 2005.