Catí

In January 1239, Blasco de Alagón granted Catí to Ramón de Bocona and forty other settlers, most likely from the lands around Lleida, an act confirmed by King James I in 1243. The town's coat of arms features a walking dog — a symbol of active loyalty — reflecting the faithfulness its early citizens were known for. Catí shared in the military history of nearby Morella, with its men serving in campaigns at Mazalquivir, Oran, and Bujía.

The town also shared Morella's long legal struggles: a dispute begun in 1292 over independence was not finally resolved until 1691.

Catí's streets hold a concentration of medieval merchant houses — the homes of Jerónimo Martí, Matías Roca, Antonio Mateu, and others — dating from the 14th and 15th centuries. The standout civic building is the Casa de la Vila, built in 1428 under the direction of Bernat Turó of Traiguera, with stonework by Jaime Sans. Its main hall has served for centuries as both a council chamber and a theatre, and its ceiling is remarkable: a coffered wooden structure supported by 18 rows of timbers, 272 boards in total, with three larger rows of wood from Benasal. Next to it, separated by the narrow Callejón del Viento, stands Casa Miralles, raised in 1455 by Ramón Sanjuán and built by a stonemason from Cantabria, Pedro Crespo.

The parish church stands at the centre of town and contains one of the finest painted altarpieces of its era, attributed to Jacomart, the celebrated Valencian painter who served King Alfonso V. The abbey adjoining the church to the south was built in 1376 by the priest Pedro Durán. A tower on Calle Mayor overlooks the whole town, and the old walls still stand.

Outside the town, the Mas de Torres farmstead is included in the UNESCO World Heritage designation for Mediterranean Basin rock art, representing the Levantine style with three human and animal figures. About six kilometres away, the Ermita de la Virgen del Pilar was founded in 1625 by the owners of twelve surrounding farmsteads; the church measures 13 metres long by 6.6 wide, roofed with stone arches and topped by a small bell-less espadaña. Closer in, the Ermita de Santa Ana, half a kilometre from town, was begun on 29 August 1441 under stonemason Arnaldo Pedro of Forcall.