Village
Santa Pau is a walled medieval town in the Garrotxa comarca, in the province of Girona, with 1,579 inhabitants (INE 2025), situated right in the centre of the Garrotxa Volcanic Zone Natural Park, among the cones of Croscat, Roca Negra and Santa Margarita. It was the centre of the barony of Santa Pau and preserves its castle, from the 13th and 14th centuries, with its facade opening onto the arcaded square, as well as the churches of Santa María, from the 15th century, and San Vicente, Romanesque, and the sanctuary of Santa Margarita de la Cot, built in the very crater of the volcano of the same name. Nearby is the Jordá beech forest, which grows on a lava flow from Croscat. It lives from dryland farming, livestock and, increasingly, tourism.
Monument
Colltort castle, today in ruins, stands on the lower part of a ridge between the Corb and Finestres mountain ranges, near the Colltort pass, in the municipality of Sant Feliu de Pallerols, in the Garrotxa, and its name is already documented in 1017 in the endowment of the bishopric of Besalú. Together with the neighbouring castle of Finestrás, with which it was often mentioned because of their proximity, it played a prominent role in relations between the counties of Barcelona and Besalú: in 1054 both strongholds were handed over to the count of Barcelona as a sign of submission after a revolt by the count of Besalú, who recovered them by swearing him fidelity. The castle later passed through different lords until becoming linked to the house of Hostoles, and in 1339 it ended up as part of the royal estate.
Nature
The Croscat is an old volcano situated between the municipalities of Santa Pau and Olot, in the Garrotxa, and the highest in the Olot volcanic region, at 789 metres above sea level; its cone reaches 800 metres in diameter at the base and 160 metres in height, making it the largest on the Iberian Peninsula. It forms part of the Natural Park of the Volcanic Zone of the Garrotxa, has a horseshoe shape and belongs to the strombolian category, the most recently formed of those studied in the comarca. The crater opens towards the west, at Clot Segolla, while on the north-eastern slope lie the Grederas del Croscat, a former aggregate quarry worked for 25 years that exposed the internal structure of reddish volcanic gravel that can be seen today. At the summit remain the ruins of an old defence tower.
Nature
The Santa Margarida volcano, 766 metres high, rises west of Santa Pau, on the pla de la Cot, within the Olot volcanic region and the Natural Park of the Volcanic Zone of the Garrotxa. It is one of the most important volcanic structures in the area, with a vent about 2,000 metres in circumference and a crater almost 350 metres in diameter and 79 metres deep, one of the best preserved in terms of its circular shape, with the cone surrounded by woodland. It erupted about 11,000 years ago. On the flat floor formed by the crater stands the hermitage of Santa Margarida de Sacot, of Romanesque origin, which gives the volcano its name. In 2018 the Diputació de Girona and the Generalitat bought the 12-hectare estate containing it and handed its management over to the natural park.
Activity
The main festival of the medieval town of Santa Pau, in the Garrotxa, held in mid-August. It includes the traditional Ball Pla, a couple's dance characteristic of the Principality of Catalonia, documented since the 17th century, with an initial walking part and a livelier section called caiguda, along with popular events and concerts in the medieval plaça Major.
Activity
The Fira del Fesol de Santa Pau is held every January in this Garrotxa municipality and is dedicated to the Santa Pau bean, a white, round variety grown in volcanic soil that, since 31 July 2015, has held a Protected Designation of Origin, the twentieth Catalan one recognised by the European Union. The PDO covers three traditional varieties -tavella brisa, setsetmanera and gra petit-, with a protein content of 25% or more and abundant fibre. Its cultivation extends across seven municipalities of the Garrotxa: Santa Pau, Castellfollit de la Roca, les Planes d'Hostoles, les Preses, Olot, Sant Feliu de Pallerols and Sant Joan les Fonts. In 2015 the fair already reached its 25th edition, with tastings and the sale of local produce.
Monument
Small church of Romanesque origin, much altered over time, located at the head of the Sant Iscle stream, at the foot of the castle of Colltort, at 845 metres above sea level, between the municipalities of Sant Feliu de Pallerols and Santa Pau. The original apse was replaced by an extension of the temple, which preserves a small porch at the entrance and a bell-gable topped with battlements; the portal, carved in stone, has few openings. Both the castle of Colltort and the church itself are documented since 1017, when the castle was granted as a fief by the Count of Barcelona Ramon Borrell; its jurisdiction later passed to the lordship of Hostoles and then to the Santa Pau family, and in the 18th century it was under the royal bailiwick of Hostoles.
Monument
Mare de Déu dels Arcs, in the municipal area of Santa Pau (Garrotxa), was the village's parish church until the present temple was built next to the castle; an earlier cell dedicated to Saint Mary already existed around 867, held by the Benedictines of Banyoles, and the dels Arcs invocation is documented in 1157, according to the legend of the finding of the image in a cave shaped like arches. The present sanctuary is a single-nave Romanesque church, with a transept and semicircular apse, from the 12th century; the earthquakes of 1427 forced its reconstruction, with a Baroque façade completed in 1775. Next to the church stands the hostatgeria (pilgrims' hostel) of the 17th and 18th centuries. Popes Urban VIII and Innocent X granted indulgences to its pilgrims in 1644 and 1652.
Monument
Sant Julià del Mont was a Benedictine monastery on the Mont ridge, in the municipal area of Santa Pau, of which only the ruins survive today of a 12th-century church built of well-squared reddish ashlar, with a single nave to which a semicircular baptistery -preserved intact- and a sacristy, of which only the walls remain, were later added; the door opens to the north, next to the original Romanesque bell-gable, and in front a two-storey porch with two large arcades was added, its vault now collapsed. The oldest document about the place is a charter of king Charles the Bald, from 867, in favour of abbot Rimila; on his death, the monastery came under the dependency of Sant Esteve de Banyoles, and it is believed to have separated before the 14th century, appearing thereafter as a parish.
Monument
Sant Abdó i Sant Senen, chapel of the Persian saints Abdon and Sennen, called by local people Sant Nin i Sant Non, stands on the Godmar ridge, between the Boixedes and Palomeres passes, on a hill formerly called Puigsacreu. It is believed to be of Romanesque origin; it has a single nave with two side bodies serving as a sacristy, a very low barrel vault and a voussoir-arched door facing west. Its foundation deed, from 1417, is kept in the notarial records of Santa Pau: tradition tells that the area had been invaded by animals called somiots, which damaged the crops, and the villagers vowed to build the chapel on the Puigsacreu, the geographical centre of the parishes of Santa Pau, Batet and Begudà, from where Arles, where the saints were buried, can be seen.
Monument
Sant Martí Vell is a chapel located near the centre of Santa Pau, next to the road from Olot to Banyoles, in a wooded area. Built well before the 10th century, it was consecrated in 989 by the bishop of Girona and remodelled in the 16th century, built of well-squared ashlar: single nave with semicircular apse, pointed vault and a four-arch porch on the south façade, with the old bell-gable turned into a bell tower. Remains from Roman and Visigothic times have been found nearby, including the base of a Roman tomb and a skull with an arrowhead embedded in it. Archaeological excavations have been carried out beneath the altar in search of the base of a possible earlier pagan monument.
Monument
Sant Miquel Sacot is a Romanesque church in the scattered hamlet of la Cot, at about 640 metres above sea level, within the Parc Natural de la Zona Volcànica de la Garrotxa, in the municipal area of Santa Pau. The earliest record dates from 1009, when the archpriest Witard donated the church, with tithes and first fruits, to the monastery of Sant Pere de Besalú, lord of the place since 1029. The 15th-century earthquakes brought down much of the building, which was rebuilt and enlarged in the late 18th century in neoclassical style: today it is a single-nave church, with a choir extending to form side chapels. It preserves 18th- and 19th-century paintings -two scenes from the life of Saint Michael- and a high-altar altarpiece from 1863; the baptismal font, undecorated and undated, appears older.
Monument
Small church in the Sallent neighbourhood, with a single nave and a barrel vault reinforced by a transverse arch, enlarged in the 18th century with a sacristy, baptistery, choir and four side altars, with the bell-gable turned into a tower; the high altar features Saint Michael the Archangel, Saint Vincent and Saint Anthony Abbot, made in Olot workshops. It appears from the 9th century as a cell of the Benedictine monastery of Sant Esteve de Banyoles and is documented in 1034. The jurisdiction of the place changed several times: in 1364 the abbot of Banyoles bought it from queen Elionor, in 1392 John I sold it to the baron of Santa Pau and in 1474 John II granted it to Francesc de Verntallat, until it reverted to the Crown. It preserves sculpted reliefs from the late 12th or early 13th century and a baptismal font from 1769.
Monument
Santa Margarida de Sacot is a Romanesque hermitage located at the bottom of the crater of the Santa Margarida volcano, in the municipality of Santa Pau (Garrotxa), included in the Inventari del Patrimoni Arquitectònic de Catalunya. It is a simple single-nave church with well-squared ashlar; the original building, dating from the late 12th century, was destroyed by the earthquakes of 1427-1428 and rebuilt in 1865. According to the goigs (devotional hymns) dedicated to the saint, the origin of her cult was the finding of her image in the volcano's own crater; the earliest historical record of the chapel dates from 1403. The original image, carved in alabaster, was saved from the earthquake and also from the civil war of 1936, and is today kept in the Museu Diocesà de Girona, replaced in the hermitage by a reproduction.
Historical milestone
The barons of Santapau granted in 1300 to the inhabitants of the walled enclosure privileges and exemptions from feudal burdens in order to attract settlers; the barony came to gather ten parishes and was one of the largest jurisdictions of the Garrotxa.
Food and drink
Fesols de Santa Pau are beans of the traditional varieties tavella brisa, setsetmanera and gra petit, white, round and with very thin skin, weighing between 18 and 30 grams per hundred seeds. They are grown in the volcanic soil of Santa Pau and six other municipalities of the Garrotxa, a combination that gives them their particular qualities; they stand out for their high protein content, equal to or above 25 percent, and their fiber content. Registered as a Protected Designation of Origin on 31 July 2015, they were the twentieth Catalan product included in the European register of quality foods. Every January, Santa Pau holds a fair dedicated to this legume, which reached its twenty-fifth edition in 2015.