Valladolid, Castile and León, Spain

🇪🇸 Valladolid is a city in Spain and the primary seat of government of the autonomous community of Castile and León. It is Spain's 13th most populous municipality and north-western Spain's biggest city. Its metropolitan area contains 23 municipalities.

The city is situated at the confluence of the Pisuerga and Esgueva rivers 15 km (9.3 mi) before they join the Duero, and located within five wine-growing regions: Ribera del Duero, Rueda, Toro, Tierra de León, and Cigales. Valladolid was originally settled in pre-Roman times and grew to prominence in the Middle Ages as the seat of the Court of Castile and being endowed with fairs and different institutions as a collegiate church, University (1241), Royal Court and Chancery and the Royal Mint. The city was further developed after the arrival of the railway in the 19th century, and with its industrialisation into the 20th century.

The old town is made up of a variety of historic houses, palaces, churches, plazas, avenues and parks, and includes the National Museum of Sculpture as well as the houses of Zorrilla and Cervantes which are open as museums. Among the events that are held each year in the city are the famous Holy Week, Valladolid International Film Festival (Seminci), and the Festival of Theatre and Street Arts (TAC).

Valladolid is a major economic centre in Spain. The automotive industry is one of the major motors of the city's economy since the founding of FASA-Renault in 1953 for the assembling of Renault-branded vehicles, which would later become Renault España. Later Sava was founded and started producing commercial vehicles. Sava would later be absorbed by Pegaso and then by the Italian truck manufacturer Iveco. Together with the French tire manufacturer Michelin, Renault and Iveco form the most important industrial companies of the city.

Besides the automotive and automotive auxiliary industries, other important industrial sectors are food processing (with local companies like Acor and Queserías Entrepinares and facilities of multinationals like Cadbury, Lactalis or Lesaffre), metallurgy (Lingotes Especiales, Saeta die Casting… ), chemical and printing.

The main economic sector of Valladolid in terms of employment is the service sector, which employs over 111,988 people. The construction sector employs over 15,493 people. Agriculture employs 2,355 people. The predominant crops are wheat, barley and sugar beet.

Top 10 companies by turnover include : Renault, Michelin, IVECO, the Valladolid-based supermarket chain Grupo El Árbol, cheese processing Queserías Entrepinares, sugar processing Acor, service group Grupo Norte, automobile auxiliary company Faurecia-Asientos de Castilla y León, Sada, and Hipereco.

Valladolid-Campo Grande railway station is integrated into the Spanish high-speed network AVE. This line connects the city with Madrid, which can be reached in 56 minutes.