On 25 May 1938, nine Savoia S-79 planes of the Italian fascist air force flew over the city of Alicante and dropped 90 bombs on a Central Market that was very crowded with people who were trying to stock up on food during the lean months. Today, 80 years after such a tragic event, this book is published as a tribute to the nearly 300 dead and the thousands of families affected by one of the bloodiest air raids of the Civil War.

The book is also a tribute to Professor Ángel Viñas Martín, who was recently awarded an honorary doctorate by the University of Alicante. In his valuable contributions to this volume, he compares the massacre of the Central Market in Alicante with the famous bombing of the German air force over the town of Gernika, highlighting the wide repercussion that this event has had compared to the lack of knowledge that still exists about what happened in Alicante.

Along with the work by Ángel Viñas, other studies by local researchers are included, which analyse different aspects related to the situation of the Alicante capital as the epicentre of the Republican rearguard during the Civil War.