Travel Guide Sagunto – Sagunt

Sagunto is a coastal city of more than 67,000 inhabitants. Already in the5th century BC, this Iberian city had its own currency and maintained commercial relations with the Greeks and Phoenicians. Its expansion was slowed down by the conflict between Rome and Carthage. Having sided with the Romans, in 218 BC, it was attacked by the Carthaginian army, under the leadership of Hannibal. After several months of siege and a legendary resistance of the inhabitants, preferring to commit suicide rather than surrender to the enemy, it was destroyed by the Carthaginian troops. This episode will be at the origin of the second Punic war between Rome and Carthage. After their victory, the Romans baptized the city Saguntum (until then called Arse) and started its reconstruction: this is the birth of Sagunto. Today, it offers an interesting cultural escapade, with its Roman, Moorish and medieval remains. Dominated by its castle, Sagunto is divided into two urban nuclei: the old town, located on the slope of the castle, and the port of Sagunto, about 3 km away. Most of the city's inhabitants live in the port area, which concentrates two thirds of the population. The old town itself is organized in two parts: a more classical city, crossed from end to end by the Calle Real. And the casco antiguo, which can be reached from the plaza mayor (where the town hall is located). There, it is the beginning of the steep slopes and then the stairs and at the end of the climb you will reach the castle and the Roman space