Castellfollit de la Roca

Castellfollit de la Roca is one of those places best understood by strolling at a leisurely pace. Its municipal area covers less than a square kilometre, making it the smallest in the province of Girona, the second smallest in Catalonia and one of the tiniest in the whole of Spain. Within this minimal space, in the heart of the Garrotxa district, lies an old town of narrow streets of medieval origin, its houses built mostly from the local volcanic stone.

This connection with the rock is not merely aesthetic. The village is home to the only active basalt quarry left in Spain today, worked since 1929, although it is already mentioned in documents dating from 1887. A glance at the dark walls of the houses is enough to grasp just how much the landscape has shaped the village.

The most notable building is the Church of Sant Salvador, documented since the 13th century. What we see today, the result of several renovations, is late Renaissance in style, with a square bell tower open on all four sides and crowned by a dome decorated with small pilasters. It is worth seeking out the surviving late Romanesque window and the reused basalt ashlars in its masonry. The interior now houses a cultural centre with temporary exhibitions.

Today's tranquillity contrasts with a turbulent past. The old walled town was destroyed by the earthquakes of 1427 and 1428. In 1462, during the Catalan Civil War, it fell to the remences led by Francesc de Verntallat, and in 1657, in the midst of the Catalan Revolt, it was the scene of a battle in which the Castilian troops of the Marquis of Mortara, Francisco de Orozco, defeated the French. The French would go on to destroy the castle in 1691.

Later, in 1874, during the Third Carlist War, the nearby Serra del Toix, between Castellfollit and Oix, saw Francisco Savalls's Carlists defeat Nouvilas's Republican forces. A long history for such a small village, revealed stone by stone.