Village
Olivella is a mountain municipality in the Garraf comarca, in Barcelona, lying entirely within the natural park of the same name and with a dense system of caves and potholes. Its oldest settlement arose around the year 992 around the Castell Vell, documented as Castrum Olivella, atop the Puig Molí, whose remains preserve a circular tower from the 18th century. The present-day village of Olivella, at 211 metres altitude on the Puig Cabot, formed around the Església Nova, the parish of San Pedro and San Félix built around 1430, while most of its 4,435 inhabitants live spread across the neighbouring developments, such as Mas Milà, Mas Mestre or Can Surià. Its municipal area also contains the ruins of Jafra, an old settlement now abandoned.
Monument
The boundary castle of Olivella is situated between the municipalities of Olivella (Garraf) and Avinyonet del Penedès (Alt Penedès), within the Garraf massif, and is declared a Bien Cultural de Interés Nacional (Catalonia's highest level of heritage protection). Documented since the year 992, only a few remains of walls of roughly worked stone and poor-quality mortar survive of the castle, with a trapezoidal floor plan; among its ruins an unfinished mill was built in the 18th century, of which a round tower survives. Very close by are the remains of the old Romanesque chapel of Sant Pere, with a single nave of which only the apse remains, and the ruins of the Masia del Rector. The castle's feudal lordship belonged to the bishop of Barcelona, and its parish was moved in 1625 to the new temple of the new castle of Olivella.
Nature
The Parc Natural del Garraf is a limestone massif with one of the most important karst systems in Catalonia, with more than four hundred underground cavities. Protected since 1988 and managed by the Diputació de Barcelona, it extends over 12,376 hectares spread across nine municipalities, among them Olivella, Begues, Sitges and Vilanova i la Geltrú. The Mediterranean climate, with torrential rains in spring and autumn and mild winters and dry summers, has favoured the intense karst erosion that has shaped the landscape. In the park remains are preserved such as the Castell d'Eramprunyà and old villages now depopulated, such as Campdàsens and Jafre, alongside traditional farmhouses, and it is crossed by long-distance trails such as the GR 5 and the GR 92.
Nature
Karst system of the Garraf massif, near Olivella, with more than four hundred documented cavities, one of the most important in Catalonia. It formed mainly in limestone and dolomite from the middle Triassic and the Cretaceous, which have given rise to surface karst forms — rasas, dolines, lapiaz fields — and underground ones, caves and potholes. Among the cavities, the Falconera stands out, a vast cave with a large underground lake, today polluted.
Curiosity
Site in the Garraf massif with occupations from the Neolithic to the Iberian and Roman periods, also used as a Chalcolithic burial place.
Nature
Plana Novella is a site and residential development in the municipality of Olivella, in the Garraf, situated at 280 metres of altitude within the Garraf natural park, an extensive plain surrounded by pine woods and dwarf fan palm. It already existed in the fourteenth century within the barony of Jafre; in 1681 Josep Raventós settled there under emphyteusis, and in 1875 the wealthy Sitges indiano Pere Domènech i Grau acquired the farmhouses of Plana Novella, les Piques and el Corral Nou. From 1887 he had the Palau Novella built, in eclectic style, the works finishing in 1890; since 1996 the building has been occupied by a Buddhist community.
Curiosity
An old, abandoned settlement in the Garraf massif, on a 189-metre hill to the left of the Jafre stream, in the municipality of Olivella. It preserves remains of the house of the baron of Jafre, that of the tenant farmers, and the church of Santa Maria de Jafre, whose rector is already documented in 1305; the place is mentioned from 1139, and in 1332 a “Castell de Jafre” is recorded. Depopulation came early: in 1413 it is recorded that the church no longer had any purpose because no one was left alive in the village, and in 1432 its parish was merged with that of Sant Fèlix d'Olivella. The barons of Jafre revived the place in the seventeenth century, restoring the church and appointing a batlle, but the decline continued with the phylloxera outbreak of 1879-1880; in 1960, 19 people still lived there before its definitive incorporation into Olivella.
Activity
Festa Major of Olivella.
Nature
An extensive karst system in the Garraf massif, in which some 400 underground cavities have been counted between caves and potholes, making it one of the most important karst areas in Catalonia. The landscape combines surface forms, such as dolines and karren, with underground formations. Among the cavities, the Falconera stands out, a vast cave with a large underground lake, today polluted and no longer fit for swimming.
Nature
Viewpoint over the cliffs of the Garraf massif, near Olivella.
Curiosity
Route through the old windmills and watermills of the Garraf massif.
Historical milestone
At the end of the nineteenth century an emigrant enriched in Cuba bought the estate of Plana Novella, in the heart of the Garraf massif, and raised a palace with an agricultural holding and winery. The complex today houses a Buddhist monastery.
Food and drink
The hives installed in the calcareous scrub of the massif, in districts such as that of Olivella, give monofloral honeys of rosemary and thyme, dense and very aromatic. They are sold at the fairs and in the workshops of the comarca.