Logbook · 3 places

What to see and do in la Vilella Alta

What to see and do in la Vilella Alta (Priorat, Tarragona): 3 places across monuments, nature, activities and curiosities, with a photo and a Google Maps location.

1 Villages · 1 Monuments · 1 Historical milestones

How far each place is from the centre of la Vilella Alta

Church of la Vilella Alta 50 m

Towns near la Vilella Alta

What to see in la Vilella Baixa 1.6 km · 2 places
What to see in Torroja del Priorat 2.9 km · 6 places
What to see in Gratallops 3.6 km · 7 places
What to see in la Figuera 4.2 km · 3 places
What to see in Cabacés 4.6 km · 4 places
What to see in el Lloar 5 km · 2 places
What to see in Poboleda 5.6 km · 4 places
What to see in la Morera de Montsant 6.8 km · 8 places

Spain › Catalonia › Tarragona › Priorat › la Vilella Alta

What to see and do in la Vilella Alta

La Vilella Alta
Village
La Vilella Alta is one of the smallest municipalities in Catalonia, in the comarca of Priorat, province of Tarragona, within the DOQ Priorat designation, with barely 127 inhabitants. It was founded in 1286 by the Carthusians of Escaladei under the name Vilella d'Amunt, which changed following the Nueva Planta Decrees. During the First Carlist War its church was fortified and the village even became walled after its liberal guard was murdered in a Carlist attack, of which only the place name El Portalet remains as a reminder. Dry farming, dominated by vines followed by almond and olive trees, has sustained an agricultural cooperative since 1933. The parish church of Santa Lucía, from the 18th century, in neoclassical style with baroque elements, preserves a Renaissance altarpiece inside.
Church of la Vilella Alta
Monument
The church of la Vilella Alta is found in a village of the Priorat that, between the phylloxera crisis and the 1970s, lost more than half of its population, with entire quarters left shut up and terraces uncultivated.
Rural exodus of the Priorat
Historical milestone
Between the phylloxera crisis at the end of the 19th century and the 1970s, the Priorat lost more than half its inhabitants, with villages falling from several hundred to just a few dozen residents. Whole neighborhoods were shut up and terraces left uncultivated.