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Aspe (Spanish pronunciation: [ˈaspe], Valencian: Asp) is a town and municipality located in the comarca of Vinalopó Mitjà, in the province of Alicante, Spain.
The town is located in the valley of the river Vinalopó, 25 km (16 mi) from Alicante city. The economy of Aspe is based on textile and footwear industries, as well as farming of vegetables and fruits.
Orihuela (Spanish: [oɾiˈwela] ; Valencian: Oriola) is a city and municipality located at the foot of the Sierra de Orihuela mountains in the province of Alicante, Valencian Community, Spain. The city is in one of the only Spanish-speaking areas of the Valencian Community.
The city of Orihuela had a population of 33,943 inhabitants at the beginning of 2013. The municipality has an area of 367.19 km, and stretches all the way down to the Mediterranean coast, west of Torrevieja, and had a total population of 92,000 inhabitants at the beginning of 2013. This includes not only the city of Orihuela, but also the coastal tourist development hub (urbanización turística) of Dehesa de Campoamor with 33,277 inhabitants (2013) and a few other villages.
Villena (Spanish: [biˈʎena]; Valencian pronunciation: [viˈʎena]) is a city in Spain, in the Valencian Community. It is located at the northwest part of Alicante, and borders to the west with Castilla-La Mancha and Murcia, to the north with the province of Valencia and to the east and south with the province of Alicante. It is the capital of the comarca of the Alto Vinalopó. The municipality has an area of 345.6 km² and a population of 34,144 inhabitants as of INE 2023.
There is evidence of settlement in the area from Middle Paleolithic. However, it is on dispute if the current city dates from visigothic times or before, though certainly it existed in the 11th century, during the Muslim period. After the Christian conquest, it became Seigneury, Principality, Duchy and finally Marquisate, until the people, encouraged by the Catholic Monarchs, revolted against the marquis. In 1525 Charles V conceded the title of City to Villena. This is the most economically prosperous period, as shown by the monuments that survived to nowadays. Although a railway station was inaugurated in 1858, economy kept being mainly agricultural until the rural exode that took place in the 1960s. Then, the economic model changed rapidly so that currently economy is based mainly on tertiary sector and industry, chiefly footwear, construction and furniture.