Village
Capellades is a town in l'Anoia, in the province of Barcelona, famous for the Abric Romaní, a site with remains from the Middle and Upper Palaeolithic that housed Neanderthals, discovered by a member of the Romaní family, owner of the nearby mill of the same name. Its economy was based on textiles and above all on paper: la Bassa, a large central pond fed by an aquifer, drove flour mills from the Middle Ages and, from the 18th century, sixteen paper mills, such as the Molí de la Vila — documented since 1237, today the Paper Mill Museum, where handmade paper is still made to order — or that of Cal Munné, the largest in the comarca. It also preserves the neoclassical church of Santa María, known as the Cathedral of the Noya. It has 5,608 inhabitants (INE 2025).
Monument
Museum housed in the old paper mill of Capellades known as Molí de la Vila, which preserves the structure typical of 17th-century mills, in the Barcelona comarca of l'Anoia. It is one of the most important paper museums on an international scale, as it combines the dissemination of historical and industrial paper-making heritage with the ongoing practice of traditional hand papermaking, a duality that gives it its unique character. It preserves an important collection made up mainly of traditional tools and machinery for papermaking, as well as molds, wooden stamps, and papers and documents ranging from the 12th century to the present day. It is now part, as its own section, of the Museu de la Ciència i de la Tècnica de Catalunya (Museum of Science and Technology of Catalonia).
Nature
The Abric Romaní is an archaeological site located at Cingles del Capelló, in the municipality of Capellades, about 50 km from Barcelona, on a 60-metre travertine escarpment. It contains a deposit up to 20 metres deep with 27 archaeological levels, almost all from the Middle Palaeolithic, with Neanderthal occupations dated to between about 70,000 and 39,000 years ago. It was discovered in 1909 by the paper manufacturer Amador Romaní Guerra, who directed the first excavation campaigns until his death in 1930. After further surveys in the 1950s and 1960s, since 1989 it has been excavated by the team from the Universitat Rovira i Virgili led by Eudald Carbonell. The calcification of numerous wooden tools makes it one of the most important Neanderthal sites.
Nature
Hill of 594 metres between the municipalities of Capellades and Vallbona d'Anoia, with views over the Anoia valley. It owes its name, Miramar, to the fact that from its summit, on clear days, the Mediterranean Sea can be glimpsed, a feature that makes it a notable viewpoint of the comarca.
Activity
The Festa Major of Capellades (Anoia, Barcelona) is celebrated around the Mare de Déu d'Agost, patron saint of the municipality, traditionally from 14 to 17 August. Among its most notable events are the correfoc, the Capvespre d'Art, the popular lunch Cuinem la Bassa, the cercaviles, the Cercatasques, the fiesta-major theatre, the Nit de Barraques and the concerts, as well as the parade of the Drac de Capellades and the gegants Sebastià and Dorotea. Since the year 2000 it has also held a Festa Major Popular based on self-management.
Historical milestone
The Abric Romaní site is located in the Cinglera del Capelló, a 60-metre-thick travertine escarpment formed by the springs of the Capellades aquifer, next to the Anoia river. Discovered in 1909 by the paper manufacturer Amador Romaní Guerra, it gathers a set of Neanderthal occupations spread across 27 archaeological levels, all from the Middle Palaeolithic except the uppermost one, from the Upper Palaeolithic. The calcification of numerous wooden tools, a material rarely preserved, makes it one of the most important Neanderthal sites in Europe, along with exceptionally well-preserved hearths. The area, of great geological and archaeological value, also concentrates another twenty or so sites from different periods in the same surroundings of the Cinglera.
Historical milestone
Between the 18th and 19th centuries, as many as sixteen paper mills operated along the Rec del Corronaire, in Capellades, powered by the water of the Bassa. The town exported deckle-edge paper and cigarette paper to markets on the Peninsula and in the Americas.
Food and drink
Soupy rice with lamb or beef, onion, tomato, lard, bay leaf and a splash of wine. It was the dish of the workers of the paper mills and today the restaurants of the villa keep it on the menu.