Alcoi/Alcoy

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Panoramic photograph of Alcoi taken in 1925.

Alcoi (in Valencian) or Alcoy (in Spanish) is a city and municipality located in the province of Alicante, Spain. It has an area of 129.9 km² and, according to the 2003 census, a total population of 60,465 inhabitants, ranking as the 6th most populous city in the province. Serpis river crosses the municipal term of Alcoi.

Alcoi has an important industry related to textile, paper, food and metal. Furthermore, it has many factories which manufacture matches. Alcoi is the financial, commercial and cultural center in the surrounding area.

Many outdoors rock paintings exist in Alcoi, and there are some ruins of an Iberian settlement with fragments of Greco-Roman pottery.

Some buildings with artistic interest in the city are the Archeological Museum; the convent of Sant Agustí, reconstructed in the 18th century with paintings of the 16th century; and the Catholic church of Santa Maria, whose style is Valencian Baroque. The most important touristic celebration is Moros i Cristians, in April.

The local football club CD Alcoyano is famous across Spain for a proverbial match in which they were facing a very adverse score. When the referee was about to close, the Alcoyano players kept asking for more time to score back and reach a draw[Notas de fútbol]: Tienes más moral que el Alcoyano. Thus the phrase tener más moral que el Alcoyano ("to have a greater morale than Alcoyano") ponders an undefatigable person.

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