Our routes

Introduction

In feudal Catalonia, the remensas peasants were always subject to a lord, and they could only buy the possibility of belonging to another lord, never being free of that payment and obligations, which were hereditary. This is considered one of the most complex slavery systems seen in Europe. Taking advantage of the Catalan Civil War of 1461, the remensas rose up against their lords and, led by Francesc de Verntallat, forced the lords of the valley to surrender their castles. Armed and without much more to lose than their lives, the army of farmers achieved goals such as besieging strategic points such as Besalú, forcing them to surrender and open their doors. That was how, after the second revolts, the monarchy had no other option than to sit down at the table and negotiate an end to this situation of abuse. It was in Celrà, a few meters from Mas Trobat, where the remensa peasants proudly signed that they had won their freedom.

In homage to this moment, every year the Remensa Festival is held in the valley, a day of celebration where moments of the time are staged and games are played for young and old. This is an itinerant festival, which is held every year in a different part of the valley with the aim of giving value to its complex and, incidentally, making new corners known to both locals and visitors.

B: Sant Gregori

We must travel a long way in time to find the origin of the population that gives entrance to the Llémena Valley: Sant Gregori, specifically in the Lower Pelolithic, as well as remains of populations over time such as the remains of an Iberian settlement between the S III and II before Christ on the top of Sant Grau and Roman remains already settled in the plain of the village. But it is from the 9th century that we find the first documents that talk about Sant Gregori as a population that lasted throughout the 10th and 11th centuries during the feudalism.

The old quarter that surrounds the Church of Sant Gregori makes it the most distinctive element of the medieval complex of the town. About its origin, we find the first documents in the year 882, in a Romanesque construction of the XI century. It has a transept construction nave and a head with three apses, of which two are preserved today. The space dedicated to the sacristy was built centuries later, in the 18th century. During the restorations carried out in 1984, three wooden lipsanotecas (small containers for storing relics) were found with relics and documents, among which was the act of consecration of the church.

Near the old town we find what is popularly known as Sant Gregori Castle, however its official name is Casal dels Margarit, a toponym originating from the surname of the family that owned it. This lineage, a powerful family of landowners, lived there during the 14th, 15th and 16th centuries until it became a farmhouse and later abandoned. It is a large quadrangular building with three floors distributed around a fortified inner courtyard, with a four-story corner tower.

C: Canet d'Adri

With origins dating back to the Lower Paleolithic, Canet d'Adri has had a very scattered structure in farmhouses since the High Middle Ages. However, these were gradually organized around the parish of Sant Martí, originally from the year 968.

We find the first document that talks about this population in the year 822, on the church of Sant Vicenç, the monumental set around which the few houses that make up this population are grouped. It is a building of Romanesque origin structured in three naves separated by large arches and apse. The nave is made up of a barrel vault supported by toral arches. The bell tower, square in plan, is of later construction, as well as the Renaissance portal that we can see on the main façade.

D: Adri

Integrated within the municipal complex of Canet d'Adri, Adri is surrounded by a purely volcanic area, crowned by Mount Adri. We find in the town the church of Sant Llorenç d'Adri, a building of Romanesque origin from the 12th century made up of a nave capped by a semicircular apse. During the 15th century, a series of earthquakes left the structure in poor condition, for this reason it had to be rebuilt, at which time the side chapels and the tower bell tower were added.

E: Cartellà

This small town made up of a few farmhouses surrounded by cultivated fields located in the municipality of Sant Gregori is built around the church of Sant Feliu de Cartellà. This rectangular building consists of a nave, side chapels and an apse at the back. With a facade where a Renaissance-style portal made of nummulitic stone from Girona stands out, it is crowned by a bell tower attached to one side of the back.

The Cartellà castle stands out from the population, an important fortification cataloged as a cultural asset of national interest. Originating in 1238, it was a castle with a residential function. With a U-shaped plan, it has a structure made up of ground floor, floor and attic and, although modern additions such as the interior staircase can be seen, the castle corresponds to the typical style of the time gothic

F: Llorà

Located in the municipality of Sant Martí de Llémena, Llorà is a population center with very ancient archaeological elements, such as the funerary caves of Boratuna, with origins in the early metal ages, and the Rocafesa cave, used during the Neolithic.

The population center is built around the church of Llorà. Although this construction is quite modern, it is known that under its foundations are the remains of a building with the same functions that could date from the Roman era. In one of the recent restorations, several paintings of Romanesque origin were found.

G: Sant Martí de Llémena

With a name that we can find documented in the 11th century and which seems to come from the mushroom also known as ox tongue, Sant Martí de llémena presents the evidence of its oldest inhabitants in the caves located in the abrupt mountains that surround the valley.

The old part of the town is built around the church of Sant Martí de Llémena: a rectangular building with plastered exterior walls and a two-sided Arab tile roof. A rectangular bell tower crowns the building with a semicircular arch on each façade and a pyramidal stone roof.

At this point in the itinerary, we can appreciate that the area is beginning to be perceived differently compared to what we find in the plain at the foot of the valley, making it an ideal space for nature excursions such as the climb to the  Banya del Boc volcano.

H: Granollers de Rocacorba

Granollers de Rocacorba is a small town in the municipality of Sant Martí de Llémena located on the western slope of the Rocacorba mountain range. The Church of this population center is dedicated to Santa Maria and is located near the castle of Granollers, which in its day was the center of the barony of Granollers. This castle is a fortification of which we find the origins in 1140, but the remains of the old castle are hardly perceptible given the numerous reforms that the structure underwent during the next few years. It is currently organized by five buildings around a central garden and in the center of the south facade we can find an old castle tower. The rest of the buildings, with two or three floors, are mainly intended for housing and show architectural elements typical of the modern and contemporary era. The most significant feature of the old uses of the building is the tower located on the south facade, a building with a rectangular plan that attributes a defensive character to the aesthetics of the current farmhouse.

The density of the wooded areas where we are and the ease of finding hiding places made this territory a very used space during the end of the second Spanish Civil War for the establishment of maquis settlements, guerrilla groups opposed to Franco's dictatorship.

I: Sant Esteve de Llémena

Sant Esteve de Llémena presents an architecture with a stone that begins to be noticed differently from what we have been seeing during this route. We begin to step on mountain lands, we have entered the Garrotxa. Among this small population center, the Church of Sant Esteve de Llémena stands out, which, in this case, is not located in the middle of the old town, it is located a few kilometers from the town, on top of the hill. It is made up of a single nave with side chapels and a dome with a lantern supported on tubes. The roof is made of two-sided Arabic tile. The bell tower, located at the entrance, has a four-sided spiked roof.

J: Sant Aniol de Finestres

And we come to the end of our adventure through the lands of the remensas of the Llémena Valley. Sant Aniol de Finestres has a population center of which the Finestres castle stands out: a construction located 960 meters above sea level from the road from Sant Aniol to Mieres and Santa Pau. Small in size, it was a typically rocky building, without too many amenities and taking advantage of a platform offered by the mountain surrounded by precipices. Currently, however, we find little more than the remains of a possible cistern and some sections of steps, attached to the rock that allow us to get closer to the ruin.

The Finestres mountain range closes the valley to the north, and it is here where the Llémena stream is born, which accompanies the water until it reaches the city of Girona.