Village
Prades is a red-stone town in Baix Camp, in the province of Tarragona, known as Vila Vermella for the reddish sandstone of its buildings, the heart of the Muntanyes de Prades and with 629 inhabitants (INE 2025). The Arabs built a castle here, fortified in 1090 and surrendered in 1153; Ramon Berenguer IV granted it a charter of settlement in 1159, and by around 1200 it already had its own market. It was the seat of an extensive county that came to cover Baix Camp, Priorat and Alt Camp, and which in the 17th century passed to the Dukes of Medinaceli, a title they still hold. The composer Mateo Flecha the Elder was born in the town. Today it lives mainly from mountain tourism, with the Prades potato, protected by a geographical indication, and the gathering of truffles and saffron milk-caps.
Monument
Castle located at the north-western end of the town of Prades (Baix Camp, Tarragona), at an altitude of 954 metres. Of Islamic origin, around 1090 the Arabs built defensive structures here which passed to Ramon Berenguer III in 1153, during the conquest of Siurana. The town experienced its period of greatest splendour in the 13th and 14th centuries, with a market and up to four annual livestock fairs around 1200; in 1324 James the Just established the county of Prades around it. The castle was completely demolished during the War of the Spanish Succession, in 1718, after which the town lost its role as comarcal capital. Today it is preserved in ruins, divided among several private houses; the best-preserved element is the chapel of Sant Miquel del castell, recently restored.
Monument
The fortified gateway of Prades is a small arch, next to the church, that marks the site of the town's old Gothic quarter. The town suffered repeated episodes of war that damaged its walled precinct: during the war against King John II and in the War of Separation, when it was occupied and its walls torn down, and in the Carlist War, when it was burned twice in eleven months. In 1408 King Martin granted the town Council a five-year extension of the tax on bread, wine and meat so that work could continue on the wall and the moats, whose construction had been driven forward since the creation of the county of Prades in 1324.
Monument
The walled precinct of Prades (Baix Camp), protected as a bien cultural de interés nacional (Catalonia's designation for cultural heritage of national interest), is known as the vila vermella (red town) for the reddish colour of the stone of its buildings and walls. The remains of the Romanesque chapel of Sant Miquel del Castell mark the site of the old castle of Prades, attached on the inside to the north stretch of the wall; the start of the fortification may be linked to the creation of the county of the Muntanyes de Prades in 1324, although in 1408 the walls were still unfinished. From the precinct the portal de la Creu, the portal del Planet del Pont, stretches of wall and a defence tower survive. Prades was repopulated after the surrender of Siurana, in 1153.
Nature
The Muntanyes de Prades are a range of mountains of the Serralada Prelitoral covering about 30,726 hectares between the comarques of Alt Camp, Baix Camp, Conca de Barberà, Garrigues and Priorat, taking their name from the Tarragona town of Prades. Formed of limestone and dolomite, with shale and conglomerates, they are the source of the rivers Francolí, Brugent, Glorieta, Siurana and Prades; their highest point is the Tossal de la Baltasana, at 1202 metres. They preserve plant formations unique in Catalonia, such as colonies of Pyrenean oak at 900 metres on siliceous ground and the centuries-old forest of Poblet, as well as fauna including golden eagle, roe deer and polecat. They are included in the Pla d'Espais d'Interès Natural (Plan of Areas of Natural Interest), with a project to become a natural park.
Historical milestone
The county of Prades, or county of the Mountains of Prades, is a Catalan noble title created in 1324, already in the 14th century, by James II of Aragon in favour of his son, the infante Ramon Berenguer. Its seigneurial jurisdiction comprised the towns and castles of Altafalla, Falset and Móra d'Ebre, the places of Marçà and Pratdip and the barony of Entença, although the main castle, as the seat of residence and administration, was that of Falset. In 1341 Ramon Berenguer exchanged the county of Prades for that of Ampurias with his brother Peter, also count of Ribagorza. With successive family marriages, the title passed to the house of Cardona in 1414 and then to the dukes of Sogorb, to the Fernández de Córdoba family and, in the 17th century, to the dukes of Medinaceli, ending up once again in the house of Córdoba.
Historical milestone
During the First Carlist War, in which the town served as a base for the bands of Rafael Tristany, a fire destroyed in 1837 some two hundred and fifty houses. The population took decades to recover and many residents emigrated to the plain.
Food and drink
The Prades potato is a Kennebec variety grown traditionally in the Mountains of Prades, in the Catalan Pre-Coastal Range, in the municipalities of Prades, Capafonts, la Febró and Arbolí, in the Baix Camp. It is grown at altitudes close to or above a thousand metres, which gives it special characteristics: thin, yellowish skin, white, floury flesh, very sweet, with twice the starch of most varieties, and a size of between 40 and 80 millimetres. It has held Protected Geographical Indication status since 1992, also recognised by the European Union in 2007. Every year, on the third Sunday of September, Prades holds a festival marking the start of the potato season, the traditional base of the mountain's meat stews and grilled dishes.