Maria Rita Barberá Nolla (Valencia, from July 16th 1948-Madrid to November 23 from 2016) was a Spanish politician, Mayor of Valencia from 1991 to 2015, deputy for Valencia in Cortes Valencianas between 1983 and 2015 and Sen. by autonomic designation. She was affiliated to Alianza Popular (AP) and its successor, Partido Popular (PP) for forty years.
Rita was licensed in political, economic and business sciences by the faculty of economic sciences of Universidad de Valencia and information science in the field of journalism for Universidad Complutense de Madrid. As a journalist, she worked at Radio Valencia and as an editor of courts and urbanism in Levante.
In the municipal elections of 1991, despite the electoral victory of the mayoress socialist Clementina Rodenas, she managed to be elected mayor of Valencia on July 5th 1991 thanks to the support of the regionalist party Unió Valenciana.
Since 1991 she was re-elected in successive elections (1995, 1999, 2003, 2007 Y 2011), with absolute majority. In 1995, she became the first mayor to officiate a civil marriage.