Journalist Pere Valenciano to host Sagunto's Falleras Majors ceremony
Journalist Pere Valenciano, director of El Periódico de Aquí, will host the Exaltación de las Falleras Mayores of Sagunto's Junta Fallera, this Saturday 26 September at the Roman Theatre.
Sagunto's Roman Theatre will host this coming Saturday, 26 September, at 6pm, the Exaltación de las Falleras Mayores (a formal presentation ceremony for the year's Falles festival representatives) of the Federación Junta Fallera de Sagunto (FJFS). The ceremony's two central figures will be Empar Ríos and Maria Pozuelo, the federation's Fallera Mayor and Fallera Mayor Infantil for this year, while journalist Pere Valenciano, director of El Periódico de Aquí, will act as mantenedor, the ceremony's host and speaker. The mantenedor role, inherited from the tradition of Valencian floral ceremonies, involves delivering a speech that praises the Falles representatives and the meaning of the festival, a task usually entrusted to figures linked to journalism, culture or local public life.
Valenciano holds a journalism degree from CEU San Pablo University in Moncada, an Executive MBA from the University of Barcelona, and a teaching qualification in English, a mix of academic backgrounds not often seen among regional journalists. His career began in print journalism and local television, with stints at Las Provincias and Tele 7 Calderona, before he founded El Periódico de Aquí in 2010, an outlet born in the Camp de Morvedre and l'Horta Nord areas that has since grown steadily and expanded its coverage to other districts of the Valencian Community. The outlet is known for close, sustained coverage of local news, festivals and culture, with particular attention to Falles committees and associations across the district.
The chosen venue, the Roman Theatre, is no ordinary building: the first phase of its construction dates back to around 50 AD, according to Wikipedia, making it one of the oldest Roman monuments still standing anywhere in the Valencian Community. The monument also has a more recent, controversial history: its 1990-1994 restoration by architects Giorgio Grassi and Manuel Portaceli was ruled illegal by the courts, and Spain's Supreme Court confirmed in 2008 an order to demolish the seating tiers and stage added during that restoration, a legal saga that dragged on for years and drew national attention to the site. Despite the legal dispute, the venue remains the city's main stage for official and festive events, including this Falles ceremony. The venue also hosts the annual Ludi Saguntini festival, dedicated to Roman historical re-enactment, which reinforces its role as a multi-purpose stage spanning archaeological heritage and the city's contemporary festive calendar.
Valenciano's appointment as mantenedor adds to the journalist's long-standing, well-known ties to Valencian festivals and culture, an area where he has also worked in radio broadcasting and taken part in various cultural and communication initiatives over the years. The Exaltación de las Falleras Mayores is one of the most prominent events on Sagunto's Falles calendar: it formally introduces the FJFS's chosen representatives for the year to the rest of the city's committees, associations and residents. The event also lands in a particularly busy month for festivities in Sagunto, which at the end of September also celebrates its Moros y Cristianos festival, meaning the city's calendar packs events from very different traditions into just a few weeks.
With this Saturday's event, the Federación Junta Fallera de Sagunto symbolically opens the season of events leading up to the next Falles festival, during which Empar Ríos and Maria Pozuelo will represent the federation at official events across the city and district throughout the year. Over the coming months, both representatives will have to juggle personal and academic commitments with a schedule of events that will intensify as March approaches, when the Falles festival reaches its peak across the Valencian Community. According to El Periódico de Aquí, with additional data from Wikipedia on the history of Sagunto's Roman Theatre.