Vallfogona de Riucorb

Vallfogona de Riucorb
Municipality
Flag Coat of arms
Country	Spain
Community	Catalonia
Province	Tarragona
Comarca	Conca de Barberà
Government
• Mayor	Josep M. Bonastre Fabregat
Area
• Total	10.95 km2 (4.23 sq mi)
Elevation	698 m (2,290 ft)
Population  (2007)
• Total	158
• Density	14/km2 (37/sq mi)
Demonym	Vallfogoní
Time zone	UTC+1 (CET)
• Summer (DST)	UTC+2 (CEST)
Website	Official website

Vallfogona de Riucorb is a municipality in the comarca of the Conca de Barberà^[1] in Catalonia, Spain. It is situated in the Comalats range in the north of the comarca, with the Cap de Cans rising to 759 m.

It is known for the medicinal mineral water that flows from a local spring, and for the priest and Baroque poet Francesc Vicent Garcia (1579-1623), "El Rector de Vallfogona." He ordered the construction of the chapel of Santa Bàrbara in 1617.

History

The first historical reference to Vallfogona records the founding of the parish in 1123 after its reconquest from the Moors, who had called it Vall d'Alfes. By 1150, the local lord, Gombau d'Oluja, had occupied the site of Vallfogona and had repopulated the area with Christian Catalans. He laid out the town, building a small castle and beginning construction on the town's Romanesque church, both of which still stand. On his death in 1191, Gombau ceded Vallfogona to the Knights Templar. When the Temple was suppressed in 1312, Vallfogona came under control of the Knights Hospitaller.

Vallfogona's first tourist facility, the Fonda Dolores, opened in 1870 to serve visitors to the spring and its medicinal waters.

Vallfogona de Riucorb became part of the Conca de Barberà in the comarcal reorganization of 1990: previously it had formed part of the Segarra.

On July 10, 2010, the newly restored Romanesque sculpture of Saint Peter "dels Vigues" was unveiled; it had been pulled down from the roof of Vallfogona's parish church by anarchists during the Spanish Civil War, and broken up. The restored statue is inside the church, and a copy was made and placed in the statue's original position on the roof above the front door.

Economy

Vallfogona depends economically on agriculture and tourism. It forms part of the officially recognized Costers del Segre wine region; other crops are olives, almonds, wheat, and barley. A spa-hotel complex was constructed in the early 20th century to take advantage of the spring's waters and attract visitors. Today Vallfogona has two hotels and a restaurant.

Transportation

The village is linked to Guimerà and to Santa Coloma de Queralt by local roads, and a twice-daily bus service between Barcelona and Guimerà stops there. A track connects Vallfogona with the naturist village of El Fonoll.

References

• Panareda Clopés, Josep Maria; Rios Calvet, Jaume; Rabella Vives, Josep Maria (1989). Guia de Catalunya, Barcelona:Caixa de Catalunya. ISBN 84-87135-01-3 (Spanish). ISBN 84-87135-02-1 (Catalan).

External links

• Official website c.
• Information - Generalitat de Catalunya c.
• Statistical information - Institut d'Estadística de Catalunya c.