“We are a mountain town with an avant-garde soul.” This is stated by Ramiro Rivera, the mayor of Titaguas, a small town with 505 registered inhabitants, located in Alto Turia, in the Serranía region, a heavenly place. “Our goal is to remove that stigma that someone who lives in the town is little less than a resister who has to face multiple problems. Titaguas is a good example of this,” he adds, referring to the ambitious program that has been activated “to attract new settlers.”
What this City Council has devised is based on a hypothesis: rather than resisting, we must innovate, generate a new opportunity. Titaguas, defends its mayor, is a modern town, with all the services necessary to have quality of life: oven, supermarket, bars, restaurants, bank office, health center with daily care, public transportation, network connectivity through fiber optics. "Without forgetting, adds Ramiro, the important great recreational, educational and cultural offering that the City Council, school and associations offer throughout the year."
In this framework, the 'Raíces Project' was born, an initiative with several lines of action in different local frameworks but with a common objective: population growth based on the pillars of quality services for all segments.
The project has four main lines of action. "Let's take care of our seniors" is the first. It consists of accompanying older people in their daily lives, supporting and carrying out all those daily tasks and activities that need to be covered such as grooming, feeding, cleaning, medical or administrative procedures, or that simply satisfy basic needs such as talking, walking." "The main objective is to guarantee your well-being and tranquility within your own home," they point out.
The next one is "Titaguas illustrated landscape, dissemination of cultural and natural heritage." The aim is to highlight activities to promote local heritage for the enjoyment of residents and visitors who can create a link with our municipality. The third axis is the "Oficina Habita Titaguas", whose objective is to facilitate new residents to settle in the town and develop a life project here.
The mayor comments that the "Habita Titaguas" office was born as a response to the gradual trend of rural exodus that the population has suffered in recent decades. "Habita Titaguas within the “Raíces” project aims to advise and inform both residents and potential neighbors of the opportunities and advantages offered by our municipality and especially its people and companies, as well as to publicize the numerous aid and subsidies that it offers both. the State and the Valencian Community in matters of housing, rent, renovations, etc."
The fourth axis is the "Office for Environmental Stability." An advisory service on environmental sustainability and promoting projects, proposals and/or activities enacted by social and economic agents at the municipal level. “If we have a town where it is wonderful to live,” the mayor asks, “why not encourage new residents to opt for Titaguas?”
Ramiro comments that “we do not offer housing and work. That is bread for today and hunger for tomorrow." "Small towns like ours cannot sustain those types of offers, at least on a massive scale. With this we would only get one family to take root here and that does not solve the depopulation,” he adds. “Our goal is to help entrepreneurs settle here. Of course, every job offer that leaves the town has its maximum diffusion. But we go beyond that specific opportunity.”
The City Council also presents to interested parties the geographical and connection advantages of the small town. Elevated more than 800 meters above sea level, after the Alto de la Montalbana that structures the Alto Turia with its almost 1,000 meters of height, the municipality of Titagüeño can boast of excellent road connections with the city of Valencia. The extension of the Ademuz Highway (CV-35) to Losa del Obispo and the current rehabilitation of the CV-35 precisely from La Montalbana to Aras de los Olmos substantially improve access to the urban center.
The town has a small business network, from an artisanal candy factory that employs more than 50 people from the region, wineries (another of the municipality's distinctive features) to the tourist business, rural houses or the educational school. astronomical that looks at skies declared a Starlight Destination and of course the traditional primary sector in the area with numerous animal farms such as pigs, calves and cows, chickens, etc.
Without forgetting the great cultural activity throughout the year promoted by the City Council and the different associations and groups that energize local social life, from the Rondalla, the “La Lira” Musical Band of Titaguas (one of the oldest in the Valencian community), the folklore group (which sustains the ancient tradition of the Mojiganga dance, offered every seven years), or the indoor soccer sports teams, the cycling club or the different festive commissions that support local festivals , such as the patron saints of the Virgen del Remedio or the Harvest Festival. Perhaps among all of them, the Night of the Candles stands out due to its tourist impact, which every July illuminates the town with nearly 15,000 candles in a unique and magical spectacle.
