Village
Fraga is the capital of the Bajo Cinca, in the southeast of the province of Huesca, with 15,250 inhabitants (INE 2021), at the confluence of the Aragonese and Catalan traditions typical of the Franja. Located in the final stretch of the Cinca river valley, over whose river terraces the municipal area extends, it borders to the south the Ebro, dammed at the Mequinenza reservoir. The city is divided between the historic centre, next to the river, and Las Afueras or Fraga la Nueva, built from the mid-20th century onward, joined by two bridges. The origin of the settlement may be pre-Roman, although the documented sites, such as that of the Barranco de Monreal, date back to the Bronze Age, between 1800 and 1500 BC.
Monument
Tower in the old town of Fraga, the Medina Afraga that Ramón Berenguer IV conquered on 24 October 1149 as the last Muslim stronghold of the lower Cinca, after the fall of Lérida and Mequinenza.
Monument
Tower of Fraga dedicated to Santa Quiteria, situated on a small plateau about five kilometres north of the town. It preserves an ashlar stone base, rectangular in plan and about three metres high, above which rise the remains of rammed-earth (tapial) walls up to ten metres tall, with the regular holes of the old wooden formwork. It had a defensive function, as shown by the three-metre-deep moat surrounding it on the east side, and it is thought more likely that its original construction dates from the Islamic period, the 12th century. Nearby lies the Iberian site of the Pilaret de Santa Quiteria and, by the river, the former Roman villa of Villa Fortunatus. Fraga, for its loyalty to Philip V during the War of the Spanish Succession, received the titles of victorious and most faithful and a fleur-de-lis on its coat of arms.
Nature
Final stretch of the Cinca river, which together with Monzón, Fraga and their surroundings forms a rich agricultural region, as well as being rich in archaeological sites. With a total course of 191 kilometres and a basin of 9,699 km², the Cinca flows into the Segre at Masalcorreig, reaching the Ebro shortly afterward at Mequinenza.
Curiosity
Name by which Catalan-speaking Aragon is known, the eastern strip of the autonomous community bordering mostly on Catalonia, of which Fraga is the main hub. The term, of recent use, has its precedent in 1929, when the geographer Pau Vila called it Marques de Ponent; philologists such as Joan Coromines later used names like Marques d'Aragó or Catalunya aragonesa. The name Franja became widespread during the Transition, and in 1985 the Institut d'Estudis Catalans fixed Franja de Aragón as the academic form, while Franja de Poniente remained associated with political circles. From within Aragón itself, the names Aragón Oriental or Comarcas Orientales have also been used.
Nature
Extensive fruit-growing area irrigated by the Cinca and the Ebro, the latter regulated by the Mequinenza reservoir, known as the fruit paradise of Aragón. The Muslims already created an irrigation network in the Middle Ages that brought fame and wealth to these lands, once famous for their figs. Today peach and apple plantations predominate alongside vegetable gardens, while olive and almond trees are maintained on the hillsides and sunflowers are gaining ground in the higher areas of more recent irrigation.
Nature
The meeting point of the rivers Cinca and Segre near Fraga, at the eastern end of the Bajo Cinca.
Activity
Festivities of the Pilar of Fraga, on 12 October; on 23 April the Día de la Faldeta is held, declared a Fiesta of Tourist Interest of Aragón in 2003 and coinciding with the Día de Aragón.
Activity
Fraga celebrates San Antón on 16 January, with the traditional bonfire in which potatoes are roasted, as part of a festive calendar that also includes San Valero de Velilla (29 January) and Carnival in February.
Monument
Hermitage in the municipal district of Fraga.
Curiosity
Melocotón de Calanda, also grown in the market-garden area of the Bajo Cinca, a leading agricultural product. The lands of the Cinca valley around Fraga have been irrigated since ancient times, with plantations of peach and apple trees alongside vegetable gardens.
Activity
Fraga holds the Festival de la Fruta Dulce in August (coinciding with San Bartolomé, the 24th), with tastings in bars and restaurants, a craft area and activities to promote the Bajo Cinca's stone fruit; this is not MercoFraga, which is a daily price market, but a food festival organised by the town council.
Activity
Under the name Festival de la Fruta Dulce, Fraga has held, at the end of August since 2013, a fair devoted to the peach and the fruit of the Cinca lowlands, with tastings and food-related activities; the local Sweet Cap variety featured in the last dish served at El Bulli in 2011.
Monument
The town hall of Fraga looks out onto the plaza de España, next to the monument to the Dona de Faldetes, a 1982 work by the ceramicist José Arellano that commemorates the women who went down to the Cinca to wash clothes and fetch water.
Monument
Museum space in Fraga devoted to the culture and language of the Franja de Aragón, the Catalan-speaking territory of eastern Aragon bordering Catalonia. The term, coined in 1929 by the geographer Pau Vila as Marcas de Poniente, was adopted as Franja de Aragón by the Institut d'Estudis Catalans in 1985. Fraga, head town of the Bajo Cinca comarca, sits in the final stretch of the Cinca river valley.
Monument
Suspension bridge built between 1845 and 1847 over the Cinca as it passes through Fraga; it partially collapsed in 1852, killing twelve people. The painter Jenaro Pérez Villaamil depicted it in 1850 in a view of the city.
Historical milestone
On 17 July 1134 the Almoravid cavalry broke the siege that Alfonso I of Aragon had laid to Fraga. The king lost three bishops and a good part of his host, withdrew to Zaragoza and died fifty-four days later without leaving issue.
Historical milestone
On 24 October 1149 Ramón Berenguer IV took Fraga, the last Muslim stronghold of the lower Cinca, after the fall of Lérida and Mequinenza. The medina, famous for its market gardens and its defences, remained a frontier stronghold disputed between Aragon and Catalonia.
Historical milestone
For remaining on the side of Felipe V during the War of the Spanish Succession (1701-1714), Fraga received the title of city and the epithets 'vencedora' (victorious) and 'fidelísima' (most faithful), along with the fleur-de-lis it added to its coat of arms. The town had been occupied and sacked during the conflict.
Food and drink
A rectangular oven-baked tart, made with a thin pastry topped with quince and walnuts, with an apple-and-almond variant. It is the town's signature sweet and holds the C de Calidad Alimentaria seal of the Government of Aragon, a distinction it has borne since 1994. It can be found in the pastry shops of Fraga, where the quince is cut into thin slices alternated with layers of pastry before baking.