Village
Sant Hilari Sacalm is a mountain town of the Guilleries, in the Selva, province of Girona, a traditional summer destination for its cool climate and mineral waters; known as the 'town of a hundred springs' for the well over a hundred springs in its municipal area. It is the most mountainous municipality in the comarca, surrounded by the Guilleries mountain range, the Sant Miquel mountain and the Arenas plain, and has traditionally been the capital of this natural mountain range. It has 6,069 inhabitants (INE 2025) and an active festive calendar, with Holy Week performances such as the Last Supper or the Living Way of the Cross, the Saint John's Day festival on 24 June and numerous popular gatherings throughout the year.
Monument
Solterra castle, documented since the year 929 and militarily active until the 15th century, held directly by the counts of Barcelona, retains barely any remains beyond the circular base of its tower and a chapel dedicated to Saint Michael, which stood until around 1910. A Bien de Interés Cultural (Spain's highest level of heritage protection) (BIC RI-51-0006076).
Nature
The Guilleries massif extends across nine municipalities of la Selva and Osona, with Sant Hilari Sacalm as the capital of the sub-region, where the Museu de les Guilleries is located. Its highest point is Sant Miquel de Solterra, or de les Formigues, at 1,204 metres. It is crossed from west to east by the river Ter, and within it rise the Onyar and the Sot de la Noguerola, the latter in the Serra de Santa Bàrbara. The vegetation combines Mediterranean holm oak woods with Eurosiberian oak and beech woods in the higher, shadier areas. The massif was also a refuge for bandits, among them Joan Sala i Ferrer, alias Serrallonga, born in 1594 at the mas Sala in Viladrau.
Monument
Documented since 922 under the jurisdiction of Solterra castle, the Romanesque church was consecrated in 1199, but the 15th-century earthquakes forced it to be rebuilt and consecrated again in 1480; it houses the 14th-century tomb of Ramon de Gurb and Almanda de Blanes, and its bell tower was crowned between 1921 and 1922 to a design by Josep Maria Pericas.
Monument
The Casa forta de la Rovira, atop the puig de Mascarbó, dates from the late 12th or early 13th century and is documented since 1252; of rectangular plan with walls one metre thick, arrow-slits and a perimeter moat, it was excavated between 1924 and 1926 and is today in poor condition. An Asset of National Cultural Interest since 1988 (BCIN 1663).
Monument
The Castell de Saleta del Mas, or dels Marquesos de Monsolís, is a Gothic masia in Sant Hilari Sacalm, in la Selva, documented since 1199. In 1853 its owner received the title of Marchioness of Monsolís, and around 1895 her descendant Josep Maria de Pallejà, after wagering with other landowners of the comarca over who would build the finest castle of medieval appearance, added the towers and other neo-medieval elements that define it today. In 1926 the architect Rafael Masó moved to the estate, stone by stone, a 16th-century Gothic chapel brought from Pedret, in Girona. The building, quadrangular in plan with gargoyles and a crenellated tower, stands next to the woods, a kilometre from the village; the estate is private and cannot be visited. Bien Cultural de Interés Nacional (the highest level of heritage protection in Catalonia) (BCIN 1470-MH).
Monument
Manor house in Sant Hilari Sacalm (Selva), from the late 19th century, declared Bien Cultural de Interés Nacional (the highest level of heritage protection in Catalonia) (BCIN 1951-MH), designed in 1893 by the architect Enric Sagnier at the request of his uncle Joaquim Villavecchia i Busquets and his wife Elvira Rabassa i Milà de la Roca. It is a free-standing building on a small rise on the outskirts of the urban centre, formed of several wings with a U-shaped plan; on the main façade stands out the circular tower, with a ground floor and two upper floors, crowned by triangular battlements and a conical slate roof. Beside the complex stands the Sacred Heart chapel, with a round-arched doorway and a bell-gable, decorated by the sculptor Frederic Marès and presided over by a bronze Sacred Heart, a reduced replica of the one crowning the temple of Tibidabo.
Nature
Matagalls, at 1,697-1,698 metres, is a peak of the Montseny massif on the boundary of el Brull, Viladrau and Montseny, as well as Sant Hilari Sacalm, in the south of La Selva. At the summit stands a large cross dedicated to Jacint Verdaguer, next to a memorial to the hiker Jaume Oliveras i Brossa, promoter of the Matagalls-Montserrat race. The easiest route, via the Coll Fòrmic, covers a height difference of 553 m in an hour and a quarter, passing the Turó Gros (1,525 m) and the Collet dels Llops (1,569 m). From the summit Pyrenean mountains such as the Cadí, the Puigmal and the Canigou can be seen, and on clear days even the Balearic Islands. In the late 18th century the peak took part in the meridian measurements used to fix the length of the metre, and every second Sunday of July it hosts a popular aplec (traditional gathering).
Nature
The Turó de l'Home is the highest peak of the Montseny massif, with an altitude of about 1,706 metres (the geodetic marker of the Instituto Geográfico Nacional places it at 1,707.8 m), in an area declared a biosphere reserve by UNESCO in 1978. It is formed of phyllites and hornfels, metamorphic rocks typical of the range. At the summit stands a weather observatory, one of the oldest facilities of its kind in Catalonia, whose construction began in 1881, and which for years had a military garrison. The climate is cool oceanic, with annual rainfall around 1,070 mm and an average temperature of 7 degrees. It is reached by car via a paved road branching off the BV-5114.
Curiosity
Sant Hilari Sacalm is known as the vila de les cent fonts (the town of a hundred springs) because more than a hundred mineral-water springs and fountains have been counted within its municipal area. Among the best known are the Font Vella spa, with thermal waters, and the Font Picant spa, with bicarbonate and ferruginous water. The commercial exploitation of these waters goes back at least to Jaume Traveries i Riera, known as Jaumet del flabiol (1871-1955), the first seller of Font Vella water.