Solsona is the capital town of a district liberally sprinkled with small pre-Pyrenean towns and masías: Solsonés. Its old centre and cathedral are well worth a visit. The locals, braving the cold, celebrate a lively Carnival; another good time to visit the town is during the Corpus Cristi procession to enjoy the dance of the gegants (giants). Our eyes are immediately drawn to two of the town’s most important sights as soon as we get there: the Portal del Pont de Solsona with the characteristic sun and city shield, and the huge mass of the Catedral de Santa María. The Portal del Pont is the most impressive of the three original gates in the old wall. Hard by, as though forming part of the defensive wall itself, stands the Romanesque apse of the cathedral. Together with the belfry it is the only surviving part of the original Romanesque church. Most of the cathedral is now Gothic, the stage during which Solsona was made the Episcopal See. Inside there is a single nave with interesting chapels and a Romanesque doorway leading into the cloister. The cloister itself is in Baroque style like the cathedral’s main entrance. The Palacio Episcopal stands close to the cathedral in a neat little square; today it is home to the Museu Diocesà i Comarcal, with a fine collection of Romanesque sculptures and paintings, including the mural paintings of Sant Quirze de Pedret. From the partially arcaded Plaza Major one of the town’s quaintest streets, the Calle del Castell, leads off towards the Plaza de Sant Joan. This square contains the RenaissanceTown Hall, the town’s most interesting civil edifice together with the Palacio de Llobera, and also a lovely fourteenth-century fountain covered by a cowl, and the iconic Torre de les Hores.

The Museu del Ganivet i Eines de Tall gives a good account of the importance of the knife-making industry in the town. Set above the town on a 850-metre height are the remains of a castle, Castellvell, a formidable fortress begun in the eleventh century, beside which there are also remains of a Romanesque chapel and church.

On 8 September Solsona’s main fiesta is held in honour of Santa María. Like the Corpus Cristi celebration it involves the participation of gegants as well as comparsas (mummers) and trabucaires (highwaymen) whipping up a deafening noise to remind us of this area’s warrior past.

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