Vilafranca del Penedès, or simply Vilafranca, is the capital of Alt Penedès county in Penedès,

Catalonia Catalonia is an autonomous community of Spain, designated as a ''nationalities and regions of Spain, nationality'' by its Statute of Autonomy of Catalonia of 2006, Statute of Autonomy. Most of its territory (except the Val d'Aran) is situate ...

, Spain. It is situated in the Penedès Depression on the left bank of the Foix River, and on the main axis of communication from

Barcelona Barcelona ( ; ; ) is a city on the northeastern coast of 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 c ...

Tarragona Tarragona (, ; ) is a coastal city and municipality in Catalonia (Spain). It is the capital and largest town of Tarragonès county, the Camp de Tarragona region and the province of Tarragona. Geographically, it is located on the Costa Daurada ar ...

and

Valencia Valencia ( , ), formally València (), is the capital of the Province of Valencia, province and Autonomous communities of Spain, autonomous community of Valencian Community, the same name in Spain. It is located on the banks of the Turia (r ...

, served by a Rodalies Barcelona line 4 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 Igualada () is a municipality and capital of Anoia county in Penedès, Catalonia, Spain. It is located on the left bank of the Anoia River and at the western end of the Igualada-Martorell-Barcelona Railway. Igualada is the capital and central ...

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 A ''vegueria'' (), plural ', is the highest-level Subdivisions of Catalonia, regional division of Catalonia. Each vegueria is further divided into ''Comarques of Catalonia, comarques'' and Municipality, municipalities. As of 2025, the divides th ...

'' in 1304. The Corts were held in the town in 1218 under King

James I of Aragon James I the Conqueror ( Catalan/Valencian: ''Jaume I or Jaume el Conqueridor''; Aragonese: ''Chaime I'' ''o Conqueridor''; ; 2 February 1208 – 27 July 1276) was King of Aragon, Count of Barcelona, and Lord of Montpellier from 1213 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 Events Below, the events of World War I have the "WWI" prefix. January * January 9 – WWI – Battle of Rafa: The last substantial Ottoman Army garrison on the Sinai Peninsula is captured by the Egyptian Expeditionary Force's ...

and

1983 1983 saw both the official beginning of the Internet and the first mobile cellular telephone call. Events January * January 1 – The migration of the ARPANET to TCP/IP is officially completed (this is considered to be the beginning of the ...

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 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 landscapes. Archaeolo ...

paleontology Paleontology, also spelled as palaeontology or palæontology, is the scientific study of the life of the past, mainly but not exclusively through the study of fossils. Paleontologists use fossils as a means to classify organisms, measure ge ...

ornithology Ornithology, from Ancient Greek ὄρνις (''órnis''), meaning "bird", and -logy from λόγος (''lógos''), meaning "study", is a branch of zoology dedicated to the study of birds. Several aspects of ornithology differ from related discip ...

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, porcela ...

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 an enclosed community of monks, nuns, friars or religious sisters. Alternatively, ''convent'' means the building used by the community. The term is particularly used in the Catholic Church, Lutheran churches, and the Anglican ...

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 Hyponymy and hypernymy, umbrella term that includes various Fiber, fiber-based materials, including fibers, yarns, Staple (textiles)#Filament fiber, filaments, Thread (yarn), threads, and different types of #Fabric, fabric. ...

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 ...

food processing Food processing is the transformation of agricultural products into food, or of one form of food into other forms. Food processing takes many forms, from grinding grain into raw flour, home cooking, and complex industrial methods used in the mak ...

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 is a set of humans or other organisms in a given region or area. Governments conduct a census to quantify the resident population size within a given jurisdiction. The term is also applied to non-human animals, microorganisms, and pl ...

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

Motor racing history

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 ; , ) is a town about 35 kilometres southwest of Barcelona, in Catalonia, Spain, renowned worldwide for Sitges Film Festival, its film festival, Carnival, and LGBTQ culture. Located between the Garraf Massif and the Mediterranean Sea, it is know ...

to Canyelles and Vilanova i la Geltrú, and from

Mataró Mataró () is the capital and largest town of the Maresme county in Catalonia, Spain. It is located on the Costa del Maresme, Maresme coast, to the south of Costa Brava, between Cabrera de Mar and Sant Andreu de Llavaneres, north-east of Barcel ...

to Vilassar de Mar and Argentona. Between 1921 and 1923 the RMCC ran the Penya Rhin Grand Prix 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.

Notes

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

* * Vinseum – Catalan Wine Cultures Museum
Government data pages
{{DEFAULTSORT:Vilafranca Del Penedes Municipalities in Alt Penedès