Sollana is a
municipality in the
''comarca'' of
Ribera Baixa in the
Valencian Community, Spain. The municipality includes a second village:
El Romaní.
Situated on the floodplain of the
Júcar River,
the Sollana region is where rice was first grown in Spain 1,200 years ago,
and is also the heartland of the famous Spanish dish
paella.
The economy of the area is still based mainly on agriculture: rice, oranges and livestock.

In the early
Middle Ages, Sollana was a small
Visigothic settlement. Later, records from the
al-Andalus period name it Sulyanah, chief village of a region including the hamlets of Romaní, Alcahecia and Trullás. After the
Reconquista in the thirteenth century,
James I of Aragon gave it to his vassal Ximén d'Urrea, and it eventually ended up part of the
Dukedom of Híjar. In January 1932, during the
Second Spanish Republic, anarchists briefly declared a Soviet Republic of Sollana.
The patron saint of Sollana is
Mary Magdalene
Mary Magdalene (sometimes called Mary of Magdala, or simply the Magdalene or the Madeleine) was a woman who, according to the four canonical gospels, traveled with Jesus as one of his followers and was a witness to crucifixion of Jesus, his cru ...
. She is celebrated annually in the summer festivities, which begin on her feast day, July 22, and continue through August 14, when the city council throws a "night of the paellas" in the city centre, and end in late August with a traditional
bullring.
Notable people
*
Juan José López-Ibor (1906-1991), neuropsychiatrist
References
Municipalities in the Province of Valencia
Ribera Baixa
{{valencia-geo-stub