Logbook · 3 places

What to see and do in els Hostalets de Pierola

What to see and do in els Hostalets de Pierola (Anoia, Barcelona): 3 places across monuments, nature, activities and curiosities, with a photo and a Google Maps location.

1 Villages · 1 Nature · 1 Historical milestones

Towns near els Hostalets de Pierola

What to see in Piera 2.4 km · 8 places
What to see in Masquefa 5 km · 4 places
What to see in el Bruc 5.3 km · 6 places
What to see in Vallbona d'Anoia 5.5 km · 2 places
What to see in Collbató 6.2 km · 3 places
What to see in Capellades 7.1 km · 8 places
What to see in la Pobla de Claramunt 8 km · 6 places
What to see in Esparreguera 8.1 km · 5 places

Spain › Catalonia › Barcelona › Anoia › els Hostalets de Pierola

What to see and do in els Hostalets de Pierola

Els Hostalets de Pierola
Village
Els Hostalets de Pierola is a municipality in the comarca of l'Anoia, in the province of Barcelona, with 3,258 inhabitants (INE 2025) spread between the main town and centres such as Pierola and Serra Alta. It is known for the palaeontological site of Can Mata, where the fossil of Pierolapithecus catalaunicus was discovered, a find that brought it international fame from 2002 onward. The castle of Pierola, now vanished, is already documented in 963 and belonged to the viscounty of Barcelona until the 13th century; in 1698 it passed to the Dalmases family and later to the Fontcuberta family, whose Olano descendants still own it. The church of San Pedro de Pierola, of Romanesque origin, is mentioned as early as 1060, and near Collbató stands a Romanesque hermitage dedicated to Sant Cristòfol de Canyelles, already described in 1033.
Archaeological site of Can Mata
Nature
Palaeontological site where in 2002 the fossil of Pierolapithecus catalaunicus was discovered, one of the most complete ancestors of the great apes found in Europe.
The discovery of Pierolapithecus catalaunicus
Historical milestone
In December 2002, in the Can Mata deposits, within the municipality of els Hostalets de Pierola (Anoia), workers on a landfill site and a team of Spanish palaeoanthropologists led by Salvador Moyà-Solà brought to light the skeleton of a hominid about thirteen million years old, nicknamed “Pau”; it is the only known individual of the species. Its discovery was described in the journal Science on 19 November 2004 under the name Pierolapithecus catalaunicus, taken from the municipality where it was discovered. The specimen corresponds to a scarcely studied period of the Miocene, and its importance lies in the fact that it could be the common ancestor of humans and the great apes: gorillas, chimpanzees, bonobos and orangutans. The set of fossils was catalogued as IPS 21350.