Calella

Calella or Calella de la Costa is a Spanish town and city in the Maresme region. It is known as the tourist capital of the Costa del Maresme and is characterized for being a cosmopolitan city with a typical Mediterranean climate. It is located 50 km from Barcelona, 50 km from Girona and 6 km from the Montnegre-Corredor Natural Park.

The configuration of its urban fabric, with a large pedestrian and shopping area - as well as the provision of 15 squares, pleasant green spaces and a wide range of accommodation, make Calella one of the most important tourist destinations in the country.

Situation of Calella in the region of Maresme

An offer of nearly three kilometers in length of beaches and more than 180,000 m² of clean, golden sand, intensely blue waters, and natural areas -such as the Dalmau Park, the Manuel Puigvert promenade, the Garbí promenade, El Faro or Las Torretes-, make Calella a dynamic, modern and welcoming city, which allows visitors to enjoy a destination with its own uniqueness.

Some years ago, an ambitious process began: to become a city of reference in sports, health, cultural and family tourism. The clear commitment of the population to sports and culture is demonstrated in a wide range of sports, cultural, artistic, leisure and family activities promoted by the City Council, as well as in the wide variety of sports facilities and disciplines that can be practiced in the city.

Since January 2016, Calella has had the Tourism Museum, a unique museum proposal in the world that aims to show the history of tourism and its sociocultural and economic effects globally in an attractive, didactic and participatory manner.

Playa de Calella

Calella is a city with almost 650 years of history. It has been, and is today, a city open to the sea and the mountains, jealous of its history, of a past rich in facts and always open to the Catalan, which has become, over the years, a receiving community for people recently arrived from many countries, culturally different, but with great personal and collective wealth.

In the 1970s and until the mid-1990s, it was a very important tourist destination for Central European tourism (especially German, Dutch, Danish, English and French), being popularly known as Calella de los Germans, their population tripling in the high tourist season (which coincides with the end of spring, summer and early autumn). Currently, the tourist variety has expanded, receiving visitors from practically all continents.

As famous townspeople we can talk about the fact that a future actress and a well-known voice actor live in Calella.

Calella beach, Calle Iglesia and Rambla del Capaspre are the points of greatest tourist attraction due to their commercial and leisure centrality.

Other places of interest are:

• The lighthouse, built in 1859.
• Las Torretes, old telegraph towers, by method of flags and wooden blades, located near the lighthouse.
• The Pineda de Can Dalmau.
• The promenade Manuel Puigvert.
• The squares of the Church, Catalonia and the Bunyol.
• The Archive Museum, on the history of Calella, with rooms dedicated to the textile industry, one to the former Barri pharmacy and those of the Pinacoteca dedicated to Lluís Gallart i Garcia.
• The Library, located in the old Salvador house of the Plaza de l'Ajuntament.

Geography

Integrated in the region of El Maresme, it is located 54 kilometers from Barcelona. The municipal area is crossed by the Autopista del Maresme (C-32), by the old N-II road between pK 666 and 668, and by a local road that goes into the Montnegre Massif.

The relief of the municipality is characterized by the coastal strip of the Maresme between Pineda de Mar and Sant Pol de Mar and by the first elevations of the Montnegre Massif, the highest point of the territory being Turó de la Punta de Garbí (421 meters). The town stands 5 meters above sea level.

The municipality of Calella borders with:Sant Pol de Mar, Pineda de Mar and Sant Cebrià de Vallalta

Regarding its municipal area:

• The north are the hills, with Can Carreras, belonging to Pineda de Mar.
• To the east is the river Frailes, which to the south separates the urban nucleus from the Poble Nou neighborhood of Pineda.
• To the west, the hills reach the sea forming an abrupt coast, popularly called Las Rocas, and where the lighthouse and the Torreteswhere it has continuity with Sant Pol de Mar.
• To the south is its urban nucleus that reaches west to The Rocks . Between the urban centre and the sea is the railway track, the promenades Manuel Puigvert (in the center) and the Palm trees , and finally the beach that continues east with the municipality of Pineda.
• La Riera de Calella, from the northeast of the term, forms the valley of Guli; and that, in the south and past the road, separates the old town from the area of the hotels (to the west), although this area of the hotels has also spread to the north of the road through the valley of Guli.

Northwest: Sant Cebriá de Vallalta	North: Pineda de Mar	Northeast: Pineda de Mar
West: Sant Pol de Mar		This: Pineda de Mar
Southwest: Sant Pol de Mar	South: Mediterranean Sea	Sureste: Mediterranean Sea

History

From ancient times in the fourteenth century to the birth of Calella

The first remains of the current municipality of Calella, dating from the I century BC. C. and I, correspond to a Roman villa known as Villa del Roser, since they are located around the hill with the same name, near the city hospital.

It will not be until the XI century when there is data that confirms the existence of the Capaspre neighborhood. This small nucleus was It was part of the parish of Pineda de Mar and depended on the lord of the castle of Montpalau. It was made up of a small number of farmhouses located at the top of the stream, with a chapel dedicated to Sant Quirze and Santa Julita.

The place name of Calella has been documented since the beginning of the XII century. At that time, some residents built the first fishermen's houses near the mouth of the stream. The oldest document that refers to Calella is the testament of Bishop Bernat Umbert, written in 1101.

Other important dates for the birth of the city are in 1327 (when Viscount Bernat II de Cabrera, lord of Montpalau, granted the privilege of having a market, due to a fair, and the population charter) and in 1338 (when expand market privileges).

These privileges, confirmed in 1423 by Violante de Cabrera on behalf of her husband, and in 1426 by Bernardo II de Cabrera himself, and the development of fishing, favored urban growth: during the century XV many peasant families from the Capaspre neighborhood and from neighboring towns abandoned the farmhouses and settled in the city, which had a defense tower and a new chapel dedicated to San Telmo.

Modern Age

During the 16th century the city laid out its urban framework and, in 1525, the Pope authorized the construction of a church. Three years later, the works of the parochial temple begin. While construction lasted, the people of Calell received the sacraments in the chapel of San Telmo, dedicated from the XIX century in Sant Quirze and Santa Julita. In 1564 the new church was consecrated and in 1599 Gastón de Moncada y Gralla, Marquis of Aitona and Viscount of Cabrera, granted new privileges establishing the definitive organization of the municipal council, represented by juries and councillors, renewable annually, and dividing the inhabitants into three classes: well-to-do, artisans and day laborers. In the 1570s, Abraham Ortelius mapped the name of Calella for the first time on a map of the peninsula. In 1586 Calella already had an urban plan made to scale.

After a long period of stagnation due to wars and epidemics that ravaged the country during the 17th century, from 1714, once the War of Succession ended, the city began a process of demographic and economic growth, going from 768 inhabitants in 1718 to 2,637 in 1787. During these years, the traditional agricultural and fishing activities were expanded with boat building. The last third of the century, thanks to the liberalization of trade with the American colonies, was the golden age of overseas trade, which contributed decisively to the industrial development of the entire region. In 1790 there were already more than 200 looms dedicated to the manufacture of silk and cotton stockings.

At the end of the century, new streets had been added to the initial nucleus, while the main axes of development were Calle de la Iglesia and Calle de Jovara.

19th and 20th centuries

Despite wars and revolutions, industrial activity (textile) and transatlantic trade maintain their production. From 1854 the construction of large ships and fishing boats began. On August 1, 1861, the train officially arrived in Calella, although it had already made stops at a provisional halt since 1859. The population began a period of growth from 3,500 inhabitants in 1860 to 4,316 in 1900. the cause of this growth It was the installation of the first steam-powered factories that offset the shock in maritime trade caused by the loss of the colonies.

The first decades of the XX century were a period of splendor for Calella's industry, cut short by the civil war. The fall of the textile sector was parallel to the spectacular development of tourism, especially from the sixties. This process is clearly reflected in demography: strong growth between 1900 and 1930, stagnation between 1930 and 1960, and spectacular growth during the 1960s and 1970s.

In the 1970s and until the mid-1990s, it was a very important tourist destination for Central European tourism (German, Dutch, Danish, English, French), and thus it was popularly known as Calella de los Alemanes, since that its population triples in the high tourist season (which coincides with the end of spring, summer and the beginning of autumn). Currently, the variety of tourism has expanded, receiving visitors from practically all European countries.

Demographics

The above data comes from the Information of the Statistical Institute of Catalonia:

Political administration

Heritage

Saint Mary and St. Nicholas Church

Church of Santa Maria and San Nicolás. In 1525 Calella obtained from Pope Clement VII the bull that granted it the right to establish itself as an independent parish. The construction of the new temple was entrusted to the Barcelona master builder Pere sudar in 1539. Later the work was entrusted to the builder Antoni Mateu, but his premature death forced the hiring of the famous sculptor and master builder Jean de Tours, who died in Calella in 1563 leaving the work unfinished. Finally, the completion of the temple was entrusted to the teachers Joan Soler, from Calella, and Perris Rohat, a Frenchman residing in Mataró. The new church was consecrated in 1564.

The doorway, in the Baroque style, the work of Jean de Tours, consists of a stone altarpiece from the 16th century, Plateresque style, with the heads of the twelve apostles. In the niche there is San Nicolás de Bari, under whose invocation along with that of Santa María the parish was consecrated.

Chapel of Sant Quirze and Santa Julita

Chapel of San Quirce and Santa Julita. At the end of the XIV century, Calella had a chapel dedicated to San Telmo, near the beach, which was enabled as a parish church in 1528, while the new church of Santa María and San Nicolás was being built. In March 1820, the patron saints of Calella, Sant Quirze and Santa Julita, were welcomed in the chapel of Sant Elm due to the collapse of the hermitage located in the Capaspre stream, changing its dedication. (Wikimedia Commons: the chapel).

Can Galceran (can Giol). Its construction began in 1430, it was enlarged at later dates through different purchases of land, and the entirety can be considered as a work of the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries. It was the ancestral home of the Monet Ballester lineages (XV century) and later Galceran (XVII). The elements to highlight are the semicircular doorway, the Renaissance windows, the speaking coat of arms (a Galceran, bush) and the machicolation over the main door. The classic sgraffito imitating ashlars is very deteriorated.

Can Salvador de la Plaza. Splendid house with a four-sided roof, built in the XIV century. This house can be considered as one of the first that formed the current urban center of Calella around the Mercadal. Its most outstanding elements are its Renaissance portal, the decoration of the windows and the defensive machicolation on the corner of Calle Bartrina, the street that overlooked the sea. It is currently the headquarters of the municipal Library.

Can Bartrina. Manor house of the Coma de Capaspre family, with a coat of arms over the door, and also of the Bataller family and later of the Delgado family, Barcelona notaries. Its singular elements are the doorway, the windows, its classic sgraffito and the defensive tower to protect the façade, with stone corners and crowned with a machicolation of which only the corbels that supported it remain. The complex, together with the defense tower, was completed in the 16th century.

Can Basart. It had formerly been the home of the Pla family, which was linked to the Basart family at the beginning of the 18th century. The house is in the Baroque style and part of the façade preserves the sgraffito with geometric motifs. (Sources: Renaissance Route / "Historical Compilation of Calella", by Domingo Mir. Ed. Cedro, 1982)

Calella Lighthouse It is one of the most characteristic symbols of the city. It is located at the top of Capaspre, the same place where an old medieval tower had been raised. It was inaugurated in 1859, with an olive oil light lantern. The lighthouse housed the lighthouse keeper's house on the ground floor, and both the lantern and the building have undergone various modifications over time. Since 2011 it has housed the Calella Lighthouse Interpretation Center, where the lighthouse's communication relationships with its surroundings are explained.

Torretas

The Towers. In the middle of the XIX century, two towers were built on top of the Capaspre, one for civil use and the other for military use, for the transmission of optical signals through the optical telegraphy system.

(Sources: POUM and "Las Torretas de Calella a study", by Pedro F. Porte y Gallart. Calella City Council, 1984.)

Dalmau Park. Large green area located in the center of the city, designed at the end of the 20th century XX from the purchase of the land of the Can Pelayo estate by the City Council, chaired at the time by Jaume Dalmau. It is a unique place to walk and enjoy nature, with a botanical itinerary and places such as the Fuente de los Leones or the Patio del Oso. It annually hosts the Sardana Meeting and various cultural and festive events. Inside the Park, an Air Raid Shelter was built in 1937 to protect the population from the bombings of the Civil War

Manuel Puigvert promenade. Parallel to the beach is this promenade lined with hundred-year-old banana trees, which has become one of the icons of the city. The mayor Manuel Puigvert (1843-1913) embellished this environment transforming it into a place of leisure and social relations, an ideal space to enjoy the shade and the sea breeze on hot summer afternoons. Jeroni Martorell had a magnificent ornate balustrade built with lampposts, goblets and steps. On the Paseo, among many other activities, the Calella and Alt Maresme Fair or the Ironman sports event take place.

Municipal Market. Noucentista style building built in 1927 in the old Plaza del Hostal (or del Rey). It consists of a single nave measuring 15x24 meters, and a porch on the main façade of Calle San Juan. Next to it is a water tower similar to the one in the slaughterhouse. The market had a covered porch annex on the other side of the road, in the same style, now gone.

Old Costa y Fornaguera Library. The building, which follows the noucentista style of the market and the slaughterhouse, was projected as a school group and was inaugurated in 1923, under the mayor's office of Narciso Baronet. Later, in 1931, the popular library was installed on the first floor. The ground floor is divided into two wings around a central courtyard, while the main entrance to the façade consists of a porch with classical columns supporting semicircular arches. It is currently the headquarters of the El Carrilet municipal nursery.

Old Municipal Slaughterhouse. Noucentista construction, contemporaneous with the market and the library, inaugurated in 1927. Originally it presented some annexed constructions for the corrals, cold rooms or the house of the guard. A water tower was also built next to it.

(Source: POUM and “Jeroni Martorell i Terrats, an architect for Calella”. Calella City Council. 2004.)

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