Calonge and Sant Antoni, Girona counties, Catalonia, Spain
Calonge and Sant Antoni is a town in the district of Lower Emporda. The town is divided into two parts: a medieval village on a hill – called Calonge or Calonge de les Gavarres – and a modern one, intended for a holiday by the sea (called Sant Antoni de Calonge or Calonge de Mar). The main town center and the original village are about four km inland from Sant Antoni Bay. Some towers and walls of Calonge Castle date from the 13th century. The modern and coastal part, mainly used for holidays, is known as Sant Antoni de Calonge and is located between Torre Valentina and Santa Maria del Mar (Sant Daniel).
Situated between Palamós and Platja d’Aro, this town of approximately 10,800 inhabitants covers two entities, the seaside resort of Sant Antoni and the village of Calonge, about 4 km inland from the beaches. The first one reserving the classic pleasures of the coast, swimming, walkways… and the second is a visit to its historic centre, which includes the Calonge Castle, one of the most important medieval fortresses in the Lower Empordà, founded by the Counts of Girona to guard against Saracen raids. This stage will be a starting point for many walks or bike rides to discover the plain of Calonge, its wine culture, the megalithic ruins of Puig Ses Forques or the Iberian deposits of Castell Barri.
The municipality of Calonge i Sant Antoni forms an amphitheater in the Gavarres massif, which flows directly into the Mediterranean Sea, through a network of seasonal torrents and streams. Human exploitation and the need to supply a population that almost doubles in the summer, lowered the water table and caused the salinization of wells on the banks of streams. Seeing the current flow, it is difficult to imagine, for example, that – before the tourist boom – the water was enough to operate about six mills in the stream of the Molins, today almost dry all year round.
History
The municipality of Calonge i Sant Antoni has been inhabited since time immemorial. The existence of numerous dolmens and menhirs, such as the dolmen of Puigsesforques, one of the great Catalan megaliths and one of the closest to the sea, show the preference that prehistoric cultures had for these places. The Iberian town of Castell Barri is one of the most important sites of the time. The discoveries of Iberian pottery have shown that this town has an origin no later than the 4th century BC. Roman civilization chose this same place to make it a summer resort. The discoveries indicate that in the 2nd and 4th centuries AD there was an important smelter in Calonge and probably also a de facto commercial import.
In the eighth century, construction began on the castle of Calonge, one of the largest fortresses in the Baix Empordà, located in the old town. The castle was founded by the counts of Girona, in order to monitor the Saracen raids. During the twelfth century, another of the significant buildings of Calonge and Sant Antoni was built: the monastery of Santa Maria del Mar or Collet. The thirteenth century is the time of maximum splendor of the castle. An example of this importance was the concession by the king to create a weekly market in Calonge. For now, the castle is half fortress and half palace. The Castle currently belongs to the Generalitat de Catalunya. At the end of the eighteenth century, it began to be industrialized with cork stoppers. This incorporation into the industrial world changes radically and definitively not only the economy, but also its social life. With this economic splendor comes the twentieth century. At the turn of the century, the beach had not yet been discovered as a tourist business.
During the Spanish Civil War, Sant Antoni de Calonge was an independent municipality, by decree of the Government of Catalonia, under the names of Sant Antoni Sea and Levantine Sea. In 1939 it was annexed unilaterally by the Franco city council of Calonge.
Tourism
Calonge-Sant Antoni is a place on the Costa Brava for a family holiday, a certified Family Tourist Destination. A holiday alone or with your partner is not the same as one with your family. Your children will leave Calonge-Sant Antoni with great holiday memories: a setting that combines peace and tranquillity with fun and educational activities, culture and entertainment, magnificent beaches and coves, hiking and cycling routes through the Calonge plain, a fantastic kids’ club on the beach, shows for everyone, workshops and lots of special family services.
If you enjoy travelling as a family, Sant Antoni de Calonge, in Baix Empordà, is the place for you. A long sandy beach awaits you. In the summer, when the Active Summer programme gets under way, it’s non-stop action for the kids with over 500 activities designed just for them (and for you.). But if you’re looking for somewhere to have a relaxing dip in the sea, you won’t have to go far to find coves hidden among the rocks: Cala Roquetes Planes, Racó de les Dones, Racó dels Homes, Cala del Forn, Cala Cristus-Ses Torretes or Es Monestri beach. There are plenty of options to choose from, combine and enjoy.
Calonge Castle
The castle of Calonge is situated in the old town of Calonge (Calonge de Mar), in the region of Lower Emporda. The first documentary mention of Calonge is in a diploma of Carloman of 881 where the terms of Romanyà and Colonica appear like North limit of the Vall d’Aro that was granted to the bishop of Girona Teuter. In the second half of the 10th century, the monastery of Sant Feliu de Guíxols had an allotment in Calonge, as confirmed in a diploma of the Carolingian king Lothair I of France, in 968. The castle is mentioned at the beginning of the 12th century and At the end of this century the castle was the direct possession of the counts-kings, enfeoffed to Ramon de Solius who paid homage to Alfons el Cast in 1193 by the castle of «Calonge de Marítima».
Then, at the beginning of the following century, it became the property of the house of Cruïlles that owned it for centuries. Gastó I, who died in 1229, is the first documented Cruïlles. Gilabert III of Cruïlles took part in the conquest of Mallorca with thirty knights of his lands and in 1259 he pledged to the king the rents of the castle of Calonge for 8,000 sous. Gilabert IV the Great married Guillema de Peratallada uniting the dominions of Cruïlles and Peratallada. In 1269, Gaufred-Gilabert acknowledged to Infante Pere, son of Jaume I, that he had enfeoffed the castle of Colongo de Maritim.
In 1279, King Pere II granted Gilabert de Cruïlles the celebration of the market in Calonge. With Berenguer de Cruïlles(died around 1330) the castle passes to the secondary branch of the Cruïlles de Calonge, which with more or less luck manage to maintain their property along with other benefits, such as civil and criminal jurisdiction over the territory, recovered by Gilabert de Cruïlles to the royal mayor of Palamós. Peter III, however, in 1371, returned the two jurisdictions to the crown; It seems that the Cruïlles have lost their dominion over the barony of Calonge but not definitively because in 1393 King Juan I sold them the mere and mixed empire, all the jurisdiction of the castle of Calonge and different rights over Palamós.
Bernat de Cruïlles pays homage to the castle of Calonge to King Martí (1408) and King Ferdinand I (1413). Martí Guerau de Cruïlles was a supporter of King John II during the civil war. He gathered people from Calonge and neighboring villages to defend the strength (fortification) of Girona (1462). Around 1468, Martí Guerau de Cruïlles lost the barony due to an unfavorable lawsuit and the force of arms but in 1471 he regained the castle and, in 1471, also the barony of Calonge but passed away without being able to take possession.
In 1477, in the time of Pere Galceran II, the castle was set on fire by the conflict of the Remences, who also attacked the town. Shortly afterwards it was set on fire again (1485), but was quickly restored. Pere Galceran sold all the jurisdictions and rights on the place and the castle to Galceran de Requesens (1439-1505), passing then of the Cruïlles into the hands of the house of the Requesens, integrated in the county of Palamós. He then married the Cardona-Anglesola family and the Duchy of Sessa and the Spanish-speaking nobility. In the 18th century, also by junction, the castle passed to the Osorio de Moscoso family who in 1899 sold it to a family from Calonge (Casellas), and it was used as a casino and theater. It is now owned by the Generalitat de Catalunya which is responsible for its adequacy.
It is difficult to accurately date this type of building. It is clear, however, that the oldest part is the tower, almost square, which is preserved to the southwest of the enclosure and could be located around the twelfth century, or perhaps later. The tower has a length of 11.60 m by 11.15 m with a wall thickness of 1.10 m. The maximum height that is preserved is 10 m. The interior was divided into several floors separated by Stone Floors wooden desgruiximent the perimeter walls. The crowning of the tower has not been preserved. On the north side of the lower level of the tower are six darts, seven to the east and two to the south. The darts measure 50 cm wide by 70 to 90 cm high. At 6 m from the ground a door opens to the east façade finished in a semicircular arch formed by nine voussoirs. The door was probably accessible with a rope or wooden ladder. The stones of the walls are slightly roughened and poorly arranged, measuring 15 cm high by 20 cm long. On the loopholes and on the edges of the building, the ashlars are larger and better worked.
In the 14th century, a larger trapezoidal enclosure was added, with loopholes and crowned with battlements. In the 15th century, possibly after the fire, a late Gothic palace was added, attached to the southern and eastern part of the enclosure. Later, round towers were added to the three corners of the site (the fourth was already occupied by the square tower) and a fourth, semicircular, to the east façade. Between the 16th and 17th centuries, a Renaissance body was added, bearing the coat of arms of the Dukes of Sessa.
At the end of the 20th century, different houses were demolished inside the Plaza de Armas, and by chance a great scholar from Calonge Castle, Lluís Vilar i Subirana, lived in one. The Music Festival has been held there since 1968.
Sant Martí de Calonge
Sant Martí de Calonge is a church in the municipality of Calonge (Baix Empordà) protected as a cultural asset of local interest. The building has a single nave, very wide, with eight side chapels connected to each other so that they seem to form two side naves. Two of the longer chapels form a kind of transept. The one on the left is called the Virgin of the Roser. The header is polygonal. It is covered with a semicircular vault with lunettes and the former arches are semicircular and some slightly pointed. On the facade, facing east, the elegant portal stands out. In the central nave there are nineteenth-century grays that represent the four evangelists with their attributes. Protecting the entrance is a wooden gate. In the southern part of the temple stands the square bell tower.
Much of its structure is Romanesque. However, on the floor and wall south there are the remains of ancient stones, a door side baroque part of a window of arch. The bell tower consists of three floors. Remains of the roof of the Romanesque side nave can be seen between the façade and the vault at the bottom of the bell tower. In the last days of July 1462, the troops commanded by Martí Guerau de Cruïlles -the lord of Calonge- and Berenguer de Senesterra, fugitives from the forces of the Generalitat, commanded by the Count, concentrated in Calonge, coming from the Vall d’Aro. of Pallars, which had surprised them in Llagostera, and of the French columns of Louis XI advancing from Roussillon. The town of Calonge, opposed to John II, revolted and forces and ringleaders had to take refuge in the bell tower. But the doors were burned, and all of them – Martí Guerau among them – were taken prisoner and taken to Hostalric. The current appearance is due to the reform directed by the master builder Josep Ferrer i Bataller (Palafrugell, 1836-1903) which was nicknamed “el Bonic” or “es Bonic paleta”.
The oldest documentary news refers to the pre-Romanesque and Romanesque temples. The church was consecrated on September 12, 1423 by Bishop Andreu Bertran who consecrated the high altar and the cemetery the next day. In the eighteenth century Calonge experienced great prosperity which allowed a new church to be erected within the prevailing style. The central and northern nave was demolished from the Romanesque temple in order to turn them into a single nave. The current building, according to the dates on the main door dates from 1767, the small door from 1740, and the window of the sacristy 1763. It was built by Joan Aguilà d’Arbúcies.very loaded.
To build the Baroque building it was necessary to demolish many previous constructions, taking advantage of some of them and reusing numerous materials. The top floor of the bell tower and the Roser Chapel are later dated. In 1936 the church was destroyed and a neoclassical altarpiece in the shape of a semicircular temple built of stuccoed and gilded wood disappeared (work of Josep Barnoya Vinyals, 1802-1808), which was replaced by a work of Ramon Reig in 1940. In August 1992 the roofs were restored.
Pere Caner Municipal Library
The Pere Caner Municipal Library is a cultural infrastructure in the municipality of Calonge (Baix Empordà) that contains a public library, the municipal archive and a room for consulting multimedia content. The building, which contains elements of the old “Hospital de Pobres” of the seventeenth century is listed as a cultural asset of local interest. The library is dedicated to Pere Caner, a Calong historian and writer. Work began in 2004 and the building was inaugurated on February 11, 2007. It opened with a fund of 12,500 volumes which a month later had already increased to 14,175 documents. The oldest surviving document dates from 1314.
It is located on the wide part of Carrer de Sant Joan or Carrer de l’Educació. The built part is made up of two very large floors with large windows. The semi-built are a series of courtyards and plots with brick walls. The façade facing the street shows what was to be the portal of the chapel: the rectangular opening is framed by two fluted pilasters that support the lintel (dated 1842), on which rises a pediment (with the inscription: 16F0T74), topped by an ashlar with a bas-relief representing the cabbage, and at the top is a bull’s eye. It is the first representation (1674 according to the inscription, or perhaps older) preserved of the emblem of the cabbage that will appear later in the shield of Calonge.
In the seventeenth century the construction of the so-called Old Hospital began. It seems, however, that it never ended, despite the fact that a second intervention was made in the last century, as indicated by the dates engraved on it. The built part served for more than a century as National Schools and then as a municipal warehouse. Since 2004, the architect Jordi Casadevall i Dalmau transformed the Antic Hospital (also called Les Velles Escoles) into a functional library, while preserving the old elements. The transformation cost 1.8 million euros.
Puigsesforques
Puigsesforques is an urbanization of the population entity of Sant Daniel de Calonge (Baix Empordà). In 2013 it had 258 inhabitants. It is a quiet place to visit a dolmen at the top of a hill. It is also a place to go for a bike ride through the streets and alleys, to enjoy the beauty of the houses. In the spring you can look for asparagus in the large pine forest.
The place name of Puigsesforques is taken from an activity that took place during the period of the Middle Ages: the public execution of criminals. At the highest points in the region, and as an example for the rest of the village, those who contravened the regime hung from the gallows and were exposed until the crows left no trace. The testimonies of the presence of prehistoric man correspond to the dolmen and menhir at the top of the hill. Both monuments can be dated to around 3400-3300 BC. Nearby, several remains of the prehistoric community have emerged (bones, pottery, flint…). The menhir, which had fallen into disrepair over the years, was erected and moved to 1958 in a higher place and is listed as the most voluminous in the Gavarres.
Menhir de can Mont
The menhir of Can Mont is a falliform type located in the Muntanya de Can Mont in the municipality of Calonge (Baix Empordà). The menhir is located in the municipality of Calonge, in the Baix Empordà, within the property of Mas Mont. It is located 272 m above sea level in a forest of cork oaks and clear pines. It is 40 m from the path that, in a north-easterly direction, leads to Puig Casademont along the upper fields of Mas Mont, and used to reach the Folc torrent. In a straight line it is 300 m northwest of Mas Mont, 350 m west of the ruins of Can Margarit and 1100 m northeast of Castellbarri.
The menhir is dated between 3500-1800 BC in the Middle Neolithic or Chalcolithic period. It is a fallen menhir oriented to the N 20 ° 0 along the major axis. It measures 2.37 m in total height, 0.83 m in width and 0.65 m in thickness. In its visible part it has about 50 isolated pots and at the base there are two very whole. All are 3 to 5 cm in diameter and 1 to 2 cm deep. As for its lithological constitution, it is a gray granodiorite, similar to those that, with bolar shapes, are located downhill, about 200 m. away, from where it probably comes.
Torre Lloreta
The Torre Lloreta, also called Can Sixt de la Torre is a medieval farmhouse fortified with a defense tower, from an ancient fortress. It is built at the confluence of the Riera del Tinar and the Riera del Jonc in Calonge in Catalonia. It is an old castle converted into a farmhouse. The tower served to prevent the danger of piracy coming from the side of the Mediterranean Sea. The castle that, according to the medievalist Lluís Vilar i Subirana, was real, or an advance of the monarch in order to control and monitor the baron of Calonge and, strategically located, a lot of watchtowers, both by land and by sea. In the 19th century it was owned by the Reixac family and was known as Torrent d’en Reixac. Then it belonged to Mr. Joanoala who had a farmer named Sixte Palet, hence the current popular name of Can Sixt de la Torre. On this date (August 2017) the Torre Lloreta farmhouse is being restored.
The tower is square in plan (4.5 meters per face), has three floors and a roof, is about 12 meters high and is built of slate stone and granite ashlars at the corners. At the bottom is the door, about 5 m from the ground, finished with a semicircular arch formed by 6 voussoirs and which communicates with the house and the roof is barrel vaulted with a hatch. The upper level, of great height, has to the side of the noon the posterna of arc of half point to voussoir and above an arrowhead, and the cover, also of vault, has a hatch that communicates with the third party, that is of ceiling. plan. The last section has been rebuilt. The stones that form the tower are of licorella, quite irregular, generally not very big (10 cm x 25 cm) and forming rows in a row. At the corners are larger granite stones (20 cm x 35 cm). The lime mortar that joins the stones dissolves with little difficulty.
On the southern side of the tower there are remains of walls that form an irregular, rather oval enclosure. The farmhouse was made using this fortified wall as a façade where the loopholes are still preserved in number of 18 at the lower level and 7 at the top. Some roof eaves tiles have painted patterns. Due to its characteristics, this square tower is reminiscent of other towers dating back to the 13th century.
Santa Maria del Collet
Santa Maria del Collet also known as Santa Maria del Mar is currently a hermitage remnant of what was a small monastery of Benedictine nuns on a hill in the plain of Calonge. It is a protected monument as a Cultural Asset of Local Interest. Its origins date back to the twelfth century. It forms the continuation of an earlier Roman settlement, the Roman villa of El Collet. The place, with the monastery and the adjoining lands, which were acquired through donations or purchases, were administered by the religious community under the direction of the prioress, although they never became of great extent. His life revolved around the gathering, prayer, work and reception of pilgrims.
The community of nuns lived there for several centuries, exposed to all kinds of calamities: the raids they suffered from piracy, the plagues, the floods of the Rec Madral and the bad vintages in the countryside. There was a time when in the monastery, only one nun held it. The buildings, due to the little maintenance that was done, were abandoned and it was decided to transfer the use and cultivation of the land to third parties, retaining ownership. The old farmhouse has been converted into a residential farmhouse. Calonge City Council plans to restore the estate and is considering transforming it into an interpretation center for the Roman ruins of El Collet. In August 2014, a new bell was installed, the work of the Rifer foundry.
Roman villa of the Collet
The Roman villa of El Collet is a villa on a hill in the town of Sant Antoni de Calonge (Calonge). The settlement dates from the 2nd century BC and was inhabited until the 5th century or the beginning of the 6th century. About a hundred years after the abandonment, a necropolis was created on the site of a Roman pottery, to the east of the villa.
The first traces were found in the 19th century when the road from Palamòs to Sant Feliu was built. Archaeologists have always presumed that the villa, which today is about 150 m from the shoreline, had a port area. In 2002, two moorings excavated in the rock were excavated in the second half of the 2nd century BC, such as the remains of an aqueduct, the only one in the province of Girona and the homes of workers in the bòbila. Since 2002, the Generalitat’s General Directorate of Heritage has declared El Collet an Archaeological Protection Area (EPA), in order to protect it against the strong pressure of urbanization in the coastal district.
The activity of the villa is recorded through the finding of pavements, walls, mosaics, remains of houses and various daily utensils. The Romans excavated the Rec Madral in order to allow the drainage of the wetlands of the Pla de Calonge. Of note is the presence of large bowls that were used for firing pottery and other utensils dedicated to the manufacture of lime. The useless remains dumped have identified that the largest production was for the manufacture of amphorae for the transport of wine. The archaeological siteit is exceptional that the place has not been densely urbanized and has hardly been destroyed. The location of the town of El Collet, near the sea and with a backdrop of vineyards, made it especially suitable for the export of wine across the Mediterranean Sea.
Carrer del Càcul
The street youngest of Calonge (Baix Empordà) is protected as an architectural cultural heritage of local interest. It is a step that connects Carrer Àngel Guimerà with Plaça Major in the town. It is a narrow, dark street covered with vaults, supported by five chopped stone arches, on which the houses rise. The walls and vaults have lost the plastering and the stone seen in the arches and door frames has been left. In the absence of documentation referring to the street, Pere Caner i Estrany considered the hypothesis that it was the center of the Calongí call. But what does seem clear is that it was originally the only access to the village on the south side. Calonge has never been fortified, probably because the castle of Calonge was a sufficient refuge for the population in case of attack, so the street until recently retained defensive elements to protect the entrance. Until recently, it was the street where fishmongers were concentrated. Today it houses the House of Culture and the Municipal Adult School of the town.
Culture
The Giants of Calonge are a giant idol which was created in 2001 in Calonge. Since the town of Calonge did not have enough representative characters to make a pair of giants, they thought of the boys and girls and decided to make the cat and the rat, characters from the story of the Little Mouse sweeping the Ladder. The cat is called Martí, in honor of the patron saint of the village. Valentina represents a very presumptuous mouse. She is named Valentina, in homage to the watchtower we have on the beach, and which is a symbol for the town of Calonge. The modeltypes of these figures were the giants of Palamós, Peter II the Great and Constance of Sicily, on January 22, 2001. Apart from having a pair of giants, they also have a pair of giants, a giantess, the old giants and the bigheads. In 2015, the first giants turned 15, both them and the idol that takes them all over Catalonia, and other countries. During these 15 years, they have visited many towns such as Roses, Palamós, Rubí, Montesquiu, Llagostera, Figueres…
Calonge Popular Athenaeum
The Ateneu Popular de Calonge is an entity founded in 1991, to respond to the different cultural, sports and environmental concerns of residents of the municipality of Calonge and Sant Antoni, who at that time could not find a space, an associative framework, where to develop them.
Interlude Festival
The Interlud Festival is a music festival that has been held every summer in the Plaça d’Armes of the medieval castle of Calonge since 1968. It is the oldest uninterrupted on the Costa Brava. The last edition took place in 2017. Interlude is committed to the diversification of an affordable and transversal musical and cultural offer aimed at all kinds of audiences and musical affinities and with the aim of expanding the age range of the regular audience of this summer festival. The Castle Courtyard is the nerve center of {Interlude}. The sound and acoustic conditions that come together give the concerts a unique character. The environment outside the wall, more open, has the exact brightness, space and comfort for the format of the Pròxims festival that has collaborated with the Festival in past editions 2013 and 2014. In 2018 the festival has been suspended. The board that organized the festival, chaired by Albert Fort, has ceased to exist. It is the end of one of the oldest festivals in Catalonia. A new Festival Board is studying a new formula for continuing cultural programming.