Village
Verdú is a town in the comarca of Urgell, in the province of Lérida, known for its black pottery and for its Romanesque-Gothic castle and medieval walls. The castle is documented from 1081; in 1164 it passed to the nun Berenguera de Bellpuig, who granted a charter of settlement in 1184, and in 1227 it was sold to the monastery of Poblet. The parish church of Santa María, in transition from Romanesque to Gothic, preserves a doorway with the scene of the sacrifice of Isaac and a baroque altar of the Purísima from 1626, the work of Agustí Pujol. Pottery-making, devoted to the black-ceramic jugs called sillons, is documented from the 13th century. The Jesuit Pedro Claver was born in Verdú. It has 876 inhabitants (INE 2025).
Monument
The castle of Verdú, built around 1080 and around which the village grew, is an 11th-century fortification first mentioned in 1081. In 1164 Berenguela de Cervera granted its inhabitants the privilege of building the town around the fortress, and in 1227 it passed into the hands of the monastery of Poblet, to which Guillem III de Cervera had pledged it to finance a crusade. The Barony of Poblet owned it until the Mendizábal disentailment of 1835 and converted the old fortress into a palatial residence, with a cellar or Lower Hall, a Middle Hall, and the Noble Hall or Hall of Abbot Copons, from the 14th century. It preserves Romanesque, Gothic and Renaissance elements, and has been restored in successive phases since the town council acquired part of the building in 1988.
Monument
The town wall of Verdú, declared a bien cultural de interés nacional (the highest heritage protection status in Catalonia), was built next to the castle that presided over the town, on the buttresses of the Segarra plateau. Built in 1184 after a flood that forced the population to move to the hill, it had four gates that opened at dawn and closed at dusk. It was progressively extended in successive circuits, up to a third one raised in the 16th century when the prosperity of its fairs forced the town to be widened. In 1484 the abbot of Poblet allocated half of the taxes from markets and fairs to work on the castle, while the town's jurors described the wall as “misshapen and in ruins” and requested funds to repair it. Today visible stretches survive, integrated into the houses of the village.
Activity
Fair dedicated to the black pottery of Verdú, a potting tradition documented since the 15th century; until 2014 it was held as the Festa del Silló i Fira de la Ceràmica on the first weekend of June, and today the town keeps three pottery kilns active.
Curiosity
Traditional ceramic technique practised in Verdú (Urgell, Lleida), documented in the town since the 13th century and devoted above all to black ceramic water jugs, called locally “sillons”. The darkening of the clay, originally reddish, occurs during firing, when the kiln becomes enriched with carbon and hydrogen in the absence of oxygen, causing a chemical reaction that blackens the piece; polished or burnished afterwards, it takes on more or less glossy black tones. Besides the change of colour, these chemical changes give the clay a consistency and hardness closer to stone, which increases its durability. It is a primitive technique, found in Asia, Europe, America and Africa with pieces dated as far back as before 1000 BC.
Activity
The fiesta mayor of Verdú coincides with the town's fair tradition: in 1378 Pedro III el Ceremonioso (Peter the Ceremonious) granted it the privilege of holding a fair on San Marcos's day, 25 April, one of the most important livestock fairs of the Principality until 1975. Verdú is also the birthplace of San Pedro Claver, apostle of the slaves, born in 1580.
Historical milestone
Pere Claver was born in Verdú in 1580, entered the Society of Jesus and was ordained a priest in 1616 in Cartagena de Indias, where he devoted his life to attending the African slaves put ashore. He died in 1654 and was canonised in 1888.
Historical milestone
Guillem de Cervera mortgaged the villa to the monastery of Poblet to finance his departure for the Holy Land, and from 1227 the monastery exercised the seigneury over Verdú. The dependence lasted some six centuries, until the disentailment of 1835.
Activity
In 1378 Pere III the Ceremonious granted Verdú the privilege of holding a fair at Saint Mark's, on 25 April. The livestock fairs of the villa figured among the largest in the Principality and were maintained until 1975, shaping its urban layout.
Food and drink
The south of the comarca, on the upper course of the Riu Corb, forms one of the wine subzones of the DO Costers del Segre. Verdú maintains wineries that make reds and whites, and its wines also figure in the DO Catalunya and Cava.