Valencian most famous son was writer Vicente Blasco Ibáñez, best known for his novel about bullfighting, Blood and Sand, and for his World War I novel, The Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse. Both were filmed twice in Hollywood, with Rudolph Valentino starring in the first version of each. His life, it can be said, tells a more interesting story than his novels. He was a militant Republican partisan in his youth and founded a newspaper, El Pueblo.

Pere Compte is a key figure in the Gothic architecture of the 15th century. He was the founder of the Valencian Stonemasons' Guild as well as participating in such singular works such as the Cathedral, the Palace of the Borja - the current headquarters of Les Corts (literally The Courts and meaning Parliament), El Almudín, Las Atarazanas, the Cathedral of Tortosa and that of Zaragoza. Apart from architecture he also contributed in terms of engineering, given that he designed mechanical devices that he used in the building of La Lonja, as well as being a pioneer of descriptive geometry without which modern architecture would not be possible.