Vallfogona de Riucorb

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, (1578/9-1623), also known as el Rector de Vallfogona. He ordered the construction of the chapel of Santa Bàrbara in 1617. The municipality is linked to Guimerà and to Santa Coloma de Queralt by local roads. 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.

The first historical reference to Vallfogona records the founding of the parish in 1123 after its reconquest from the Moors, who had called it Vall d'Alfes.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 Hospitalers.

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

Demography

1900	1930	1950	1970	1986	2002
467	538	372	180	113	164

Note

1. ^ Vallfogona de Riucorb became part of the Conca de Barberà in the comarcal revision of 1990: previously it formed part of the Segarra.

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).