Alénya

Alénya (French pronunciation: [aleɲa] ^ⓘ; Catalan: Alenyà [əɫəˈɲa]) is a commune in the Pyrénées-Orientales department in southern France.^[3]

Alénya Alenyà (Catalan)
Commune
The town hall in Alénya
Coat of arms
Location of Alénya
Alénya Show map of France Alénya Show map of Occitanie
Coordinates: 42°38′27″N 2°58′57″E
Country	France
Region	Occitania
Department	Pyrénées-Orientales
Arrondissement	Céret
Canton	La Plaine d'Illibéris
Intercommunality	Sud Roussillon
Government
• Mayor (2020–2026)	Jean-André Magdalou[1]
Area 1	5.34 km2 (2.06 sq mi)
Population  (2022)[2]	3,712
• Density	700/km2 (1,800/sq mi)
Demonym(s)	alényanais (fr) alenyanenc (ca)
Time zone	UTC+01:00 (CET)
• Summer (DST)	UTC+02:00 (CEST)
INSEE/Postal code	66002 /66200
Elevation	3–18 m (9.8–59.1 ft) (avg. 5 m or 16 ft)
1 French Land Register data, which excludes lakes, ponds, glaciers > 1 km2 (0.386 sq mi or 247 acres) and river estuaries.

The village is surrounded by wine fields. Apricot and peach are also grown here.

Geography

Localisation

Alénya covers an area of 5.34 km² (2.06 sq mi), with 434 inhabitants per km². It is located about 10 km (6.2 mi) from Perpignan and borders the municipalities of Saint-Nazaire, Canet-en-Roussillon, Saint-Cyprien, Elne, Corneilla del Vercol, Théza, and Saleilles. Alénya has a Mediterranean climate.

Alénya is located in the canton of La Plaine d'Illibéris and in the arrondissement of Perpignan. It is part of the Northern Catalan comarca of Rosselló.

Map of Alénya and its surrounding communes

History

Alénya was first inhabited by the Celts and was conquered by the Romans in c. 121 BC. It was first mentioned in 904 in a document mentioning towns on the Elne.

Before 1214 Alénya was only a small hamlet with little importance. That was the year its first church was built. A second church which still stands today was built in 1593. Among its attractions is a statue of the Virgin Mary from the fifteenth century.^[4]

Government and politics

Canton

In 1790, the commune of Alénya is included into the canton of Elne, then part of the Perpignan district. It is moved to the canton of East-Perpignan in 1801, before being included into the canton of Perpignan-3 in 1973 and, finally, into the canton of La Côte Radieuse in 1982.^[5] Following the French canton reorganisation which came into effect in March 2015, Alénya is now part of the canton of La Plaine d'Illibéris.^[6]

Mayors

Mayor	Term start	Term end
Simone Parrot	1965	1983
Jacques Pumareda	2001	2014
Jean-André Magdalou	2014	Present

Population

The people of Alénya are called Alényanais.

Historical population

Year	Pop.	±% p.a.
1968	678	—
1975	1,006	+5.80%
1982	1,211	+2.68%
1990	1,562	+3.23%
1999	2,318	+4.48%
2007	2,846	+2.60%
2012	3,283	+2.90%
2017	3,601	+1.87%
Source: INSEE[7]

Sites of interest

• The Sainte-Eulalie-et-Sainte-Julie church, built from 1593.
• The Ortaffa medieval house.
• The Pedra Martina, a medieval boundary stone.
• The Pompe Bonne, an old fountain.
• The former castle and Saint-Martin church of Boaça, both medieval and once located to the west of Alénya, were destroyed in 1974 to build a summer camp.

See also

• Communes of the Pyrénées-Orientales department