Vilafranca del Penedès, or simply Vilafranca (), is the capital of the ''comarca'' of the Alt Penedès in

Catalonia Catalonia (; ca, Catalunya ; Aranese Occitan: ''Catalonha'' ; es, Cataluña ) is an autonomous community of Spain, designated as a '' nationality'' by its Statute of Autonomy. Most of the territory (except the Val d'Aran) lies on the no ...

, Spain. The Spanish spelling of the name, ''Villafranca del Panadés'', is no longer in official use since 1982 (Law 12/1982, of 8 October). It is situated in the

Penedès Depression Penedès () is a natural and historical region of Catalonia, Spain. It is located in the south of the Principality of Catalonia between the pre-coastal mountain range (''Serralada Pre-litoral'') and the Mediterranean Sea. The comarcal division of ...

on the left bank of the

Foix River The Foix () is a river in Catalonia in the province of Barcelona, northeastern Spain. Its source is near La Llacuna in the Comarca of Anoia 800 m above the sea. Later it runs through the Comarca of Alt Penedès, where it feeds a reservoir in the ...

, and on the main axis of communication from

Barcelona Barcelona ( , , ) is a city on the coast of northeastern Spain. It is the capital and largest city of the autonomous community of Catalonia, as well as the second most populous municipality of Spain. With a population of 1.6 million within ...

to Tarragona and

Valencia Valencia ( va, València) is the capital of the autonomous community of Valencia and the third-most populated municipality in Spain, with 791,413 inhabitants. It is also the capital of the province of the same name. The wider urban area al ...

, served by a

Rodalies Barcelona line 4 The R4 is a line of Rodalies de Catalunya's Barcelona commuter rail service, operated by Renfe Operadora. It runs northwards from the northern limits of the province of Tarragona to Barcelona, passing through the inland Alt Penedès region. The ...

and by the AP-7 ''autopista'' as well as by the C-243 towards Sant Sadurní d'Anoia, and C-15 (formerly called C-244) roads to Vilanova i la Geltrú and Igualada respectively.

History

The town was founded in the middle of the 12th century as a result of the decline of Olèrdola, which had been until then the main local centre. It was established as the seat of a '' vegueria'' in 1304. The Corts were held in the town in 1218 under King

James I of Aragon James I the Conqueror ( es, Jaime el Conquistador, ca, Jaume el Conqueridor; 2 February 1208 – 27 July 1276) was King of Aragon and Lord of Montpellier from 1213 to 1276; King of Majorca from 1231 to 1276; and Valencia from 1238 to 1 ...

, and again in 1358–59 and in 1367. King Peter III of Aragon died while staying at the royal palace in Vilafranca in 1285. Vilafranca is the birthplace of Raymond of Penyafort, O.P., a Catalonian Dominican (O.P.) friar born around 1175. St. Raymond compiled the Decretals of Gregory IX, a collection of canon law that remained the major corpus of canon law in the Roman Catholic Church until the 1917 and 1983 Codes of Canon Law. He was also instrumental in the founding of the Mercedarian Friars.

Main sights

The gothic church of Santa Maria, the royal palace (''Palau Reial'') and the Palau Balta, are situated in the historic town centre. The Palau Reial, from the thirteenth century houses the town museum, with collections of

archeology Archaeology or archeology is the scientific study of human activity through the recovery and analysis of material culture. The archaeological record consists of artifacts, architecture, biofacts or ecofacts, sites, and cultural landscape ...

paleontology Paleontology (), also spelled palaeontology or palæontology, is the scientific study of life that existed prior to, and sometimes including, the start of the Holocene epoch (roughly 11,700 years before present). It includes the study of fos ...

ornithology Ornithology is a branch of zoology that concerns the "methodological study and consequent knowledge of birds with all that relates to them." Several aspects of ornithology differ from related disciplines, due partly to the high visibility and th ...

ceramic A ceramic is any of the various hard, brittle, heat-resistant and corrosion-resistant materials made by shaping and then firing an inorganic, nonmetallic material, such as clay, at a high temperature. Common examples are earthenware, porcelai ...

s and sacred art, and a Museum dedicated to Wine (''Vinseum''). Other notable monuments include the church of Sant Joan, the

convent A convent is a community of monks, nuns, religious brothers or, sisters or priests. Alternatively, ''convent'' means the building used by the community. The word is particularly used in the Catholic Church, Lutheran churches, and the Anglic ...

of Sant Francesc and a number of old merchants' houses such as the ''Palau del Fraret'', ''Palau Macià'', the ''Casal dels Gomà'' and the ''Casal del Marquès d'Alfarràs''.

Economy

Vilafranca is a centre for the local wine industry, along with neighbouring Sant Sadurní d'Anoia. Other local industries include

textile Textile is an umbrella term that includes various fiber-based materials, including fibers, yarns, filaments, threads, different fabric types, etc. At first, the word "textiles" only referred to woven fabrics. However, weaving is not t ...

metallurgy Metallurgy is a domain of materials science and engineering that studies the physical and chemical behavior of metallic elements, their inter-metallic compounds, and their mixtures, which are known as alloys. Metallurgy encompasses both the sci ...

food processing Food processing is the transformation of agricultural products into food, or of one form of food into other forms. Food processing includes many forms of processing foods, from grinding grain to make raw flour to home cooking to complex industr ...

and construction materials. It is also an important commercial centre. Vilafranca is also the birthplace of the Penedesenca fowl, famous for their chocolate-coloured eggs.

Demography

Vilafranca del Penedès has grown steadily at the expense of the more rural areas of Alt Penedès, aided by its excellent transport links and by the strength of the local economy (particularly the wine industry).

Subdivisions

Four outlying villages are included within the municipality of Vilafranca del Penedès (

population Population typically refers to the number of people in a single area, whether it be a city or town, region, country, continent, or the world. Governments typically quantify the size of the resident population within their jurisdiction using ...

s as of 2005): *El Bordellet (9) *El Molí d'en Rovira (166) *Perepau (87) *Les Salines (85)

Motor racing history

Plaça de Jaume I (Vilafranca del Penedès) - 4

Vilafranca del Penedès is part of the long history of motor racing in Catalonia, from 1908-1920 events were staged over public roads from Sitges to Canyelles and Vilanova i la Geltrú, and from

Mataró Mataró () is the capital and largest town of the ''comarca'' of the Maresme, in the province of Barcelona, Catalonia Autonomous Community, Spain. It is located on the Costa del Maresme, to the south of Costa Brava, between Cabrera de Mar a ...

to Vilassar de Mar and Argentona. Between 1921 and 1923 the RMCC ran the

Penya Rhin Grand Prix The Penya Rhin Grand Prix was a Grand Prix motor racing event staged at the three different circuits in three different eras in Spain. The race was held intermittently over its history, sometimes for full-size Grand Prix cars, sometimes for sport ...

over a 9-mile circuit around the town of Vilafranca del Penedès until it was replaced by a short lived purpose built circuit, the Sitges Terramar.

References

* Panareda Clopés, Josep Maria; Ríos Calvet, Jaume; Rabella Vives, Josep Maria (1989). ''Guia de Catalunya'', Barcelona: Caixa de Catalunya. (Spanish). (Catalan). * ''Enciclopèdia catalana bàsica'' (Ed. '' El Periódico''), Barcelona, 1996.

External links

*
Government data pages
{{DEFAULTSORT:Vilafranca Del Penedes Municipalities in Alt Penedès