Novelda

"Novelda es un municipio de España situado en el interior de la provincia de Alicante, en la comarca del Medio Vinalopó. Conocido por su producción de uva y el comercio de especias y mármol, la localidad contaba con 26.146 habitantes en 2015 (INE)."

"Novelda (Valencian: [novda]; Spanish: [noelda]) is a town located in the province of Alicante, Spain. As of 2009, it has a total population of 27,135 inhabitants. Novelda has important quarries and mines of marble, limestone, silica, clay and gypsum. It is a major centre of the marble industry. It was probably settled by Greeks, although it was controlled by Carthaginians and Romans. Some centuries later it was conquered from the Moors by a son of Ferdinand III of Castile. Places of tourist interest in Novelda include the monastery of Santa María Magdalena (dated from the 19th century), which has a church designed by a disciple of Antoni Gaudí, the Moorish castle of the Mola, with its unique triangular tower, and the Museum of Modernism. This is a well preserved art nouveau house with original artifacts from the 1920s. The house itself is a work of art. The House-Museum is located in a modernist building designed by Pedro Cerdan Martinez (1863-1947) and is now a centre for modernist research and promotion. There are also several natural and salty lakes to visit in the surroundings."