Vila-real

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This article is about the town in eastern Spain. For other uses of the term, see Vila Real (disambiguation).

Vila-real (also known as Villarreal) is a town in eastern Spain, in the province of Castellón, in the Land of Valencia. Located 7 km to the south of the province's capital, at 42 m over sea level, it has 48,000 inhabitants (2005 data), most of them living in the urban area that covers about 10,72% of its county's 55,4 km² surface. Ranked by population, it is the second city in the province (following the capital), and tenth in the Valencian Community region.

[edit] Economy

Vila-real's economy has been evolving from the growth and trade of oranges last century to the ceramic tile, what is today its most important income.

[edit] History

Founded in 1274 by King James I of Aragon (therefore its name: Vila-real, "King's Town") to reinforce the area once it had been reconquered from the Muslims, was located strategically on the old Roman road Via Augusta, 65 km to the North of the city of Valencia, and close to the town of Burriana, at that time under Muslim rule. The original village, surrounded by defence walls, was expanded to the outskirts in 14th century, under protection of the King of Valencia. During the 16th century, the farming lands started to extend and enhance by drilling wells to get water and convert dry grounds into irrigated fields, what helped to begin a commercial type of agriculture in the 17th century. After its disastreous participation in the Spanish Succession War, in the second half of the 18th century, the first industries were built, mainly for textiles. Also during that time, the city got involved in various revolts and wars that shook Spain. In the 19th century, the growth and trade of oranges was introduced, what provided the town a big economical progress, led both by business men and by farmers' associations or "cooperativas". After the Spanish Civil War in the second half of the 20th century, the earnings obtained from the orange trade allowed several entrepreneurs to build ceramic tile factories, as a way to diversify their productive model. These type of industries continued expanding up to the present days, and they have become the main economic activity of Vila-Real.

Villarreal CF made their own piece of history in the UEFA Champions League of 2006 when they reached the Semi- Finals of the tournament. They were managed by Chilean Mauricio Pellegrini, and had a number of South Americans in that team: Riquelme, Forlan, Sorin, Barbosa, Senna, Peña, Viera and more.