La Rambla Méndez Núñez

Streets - Outskirts

The "rambla de Méndez Núñez", also known as La Rambla, is a central avenue in the city of Alicante that separates the neighborhoods of the Center and the Old Town, it connects the avenue of Alfonso el Sabio with the Explanada de España and is located in the final channel of a watercourse (the ravine of Canicia), named after the nineteenth-century Spanish military Casto Méndez Núñez. Until well into the nineteenth century, when the walls of Alicante were demolished, one of the defensive walls that were built during the sixteenth century was covered by the current route of the street. The street that ran parallel to this wall inside the walled city was called Calle del Muro, while on the outside was the ravine of Canicia, which collected the waters of the watercourse receiving the name of Carrer del Vall. After the demolition of the walls, the street was built using the rubble to fill the ravine. Towards the first decade of the 20th century, the street had an elevated central promenade. In 1912, the market for traveling stalls was moved there, previously located in the market of the Explanada de España. When the Central Market opened, the elevated promenade was dismounted and a tree-lined avenue was left. In 1941, some buildings were demolished to extend the street to the Esplanade and in the following decade it was extended to the north, remaining in its current configuration. After the serious floods that Alicante suffered in 1997, a large underground rainwater collector was built on this avenue.