The Regional Ministry of Innovation, Industry, Trade and Tourism has informed Calpe Town Council that it has declared the Calpe Easter Week to be a Festival of Regional Tourist Interest of the Valencian Community. This distinction recognises the originality and popular tradition of these celebrations, as well as their ability to attract visitors.
Specifically, it highlights as distinctive and original elements of the festival the participation of people of different nationalities, as well as the mixture of customs between the Mediterranean Easter Week and the more sober Castilian one, which gives it a unique and eclectic character that distinguishes it from other celebrations in Spain.
Also taken into account was the tourist interest of Easter Week, a festival which in 2024 attracted an average of 31,100 visitors a day to the municipality. Of these, approximately half were tourists, i.e. they stayed overnight in Calpe, and the other half were visitors. It should also be noted that 79.5% of these visitors came from Spain, the rest being foreigners. Of the Spaniards, 40% came from the province of Alicante itself, 27.9% from Madrid and 11.5% from Valencia.
Likewise, the length of time the celebrations have been held and their roots have been valued. In the report presented by the Town Council to request the Declaration of Festival of Regional Interest, it is pointed out that in Calpe a procession dedicated to the Virgen de los Dolores has been held since time immemorial, although it is accredited that in 1954 a group of neighbours created the Brotherhood of Jesus Nazareno, who came to process through the streets of Calpe and commissioned an image to the sculptor Juan Bautista Devesa from Jaén, although for economic reasons the image had to be returned in 1958.
In 2008, the patron saint's festival committee decided to buy the image of the Nazarene from the sculptor's daughter. After being restored, it returned to process through the streets of Calpe on Maundy Thursday 2010. Since then, Calpe's Holy Week has regained an extraordinary dynamism that has led to the celebrations currently having five brotherhoods and sisterhoods. In addition to the Brotherhood of Jesús Nazareno, the Brotherhood of Silence, the Brotherhood of Santísimo Cristo de las Tres Caídas, the Brotherhood of Cristo de los Gitanos ‘El Poderoso’ and the Brotherhood of Nuestra Señora de la Virgen de la Salud. Together with them the Festeros, responsible for the procession of Palm Sunday and the Encounter, and whose festive women become the ‘dolorosas’ of the Virgen de Dolores.
During Holy Week in Calpe, the different brotherhoods process through the streets of the old town, one every day from Palm Sunday onwards. The devotion and aestheticism reach their peak on Good Friday, with the procession of the Holy Burial, which ends in the Plaza de la Villa with the gathering of all the images and brotherhoods. The celebrations conclude on Easter Sunday, when the Encounter between the Risen Christ and the Virgin takes place in San Salvador square, one of the most heartfelt events in which the members of the Festivities Commission take on special relevance as they accompany the images wearing the traditional costume of Calpe.
‘The declaration of Fiesta de Interés Turístico Autonómico is a recognition of the uniqueness of our Calpe Easter Week, a distinction that highlights the great wealth of our cultural heritage and that undoubtedly motivates us to continue working to make these festivities even greater,’ said the mayoress of Calpe, Ana Sala.