Elsa Peretti ran away from her home in Rome severing ties with her father’s oil-and-energy fortune and the rigid conventions of Franco-era family life where she immersed herself in the bohemian enclave of the ‘Gauche Divine’ among the liberal art movement’s luminaries like Salvador Dalí and Leopoldo Pomés she discovered Sant Martí Vell in Catalonia in 1968 and purchased a small home that looked over the town square “In Sant Martí Vell I find the strength to continue my work the inspiration for my forms,” Peretti once said Peretti was introduced to the Tiffany & Co team by her close friend and longtime collaborator drawing from the natural beauty of her Mediterranean surroundings Through the years she gradually acquired almost every property in the village A network of winding underground galleries and air bridges connected the 27 buildings which she lovingly restored and furnished with meticulous care She chose to make it her full-time home in 2021 devoting herself to organising her vast archive which she tucked into the hidden corners and storied walls of her residence leaving the house as an unfinished yet profoundly personal testament to her vision it’s clear that her mind was reflected in her home which have been celebrated in Tiffany & Co’s special anniversary release reissuing some of the designer’s most beloved icons with exceptional gemstones and in bold scales AnOther speaks with co-executive director of the Elsa Peretti Family Office and Peretti’s close collaborator Stefano Palumbo who details five fascinating things in the jeweller’s sprawling Catalan residence “The freedom to fly was central to Elsa’s fascination with birds she planted berry-filled shrubs and placed water containers to attract birds of all species the cage is an obsessively recurring element in Peretti’s art collection They embodied her personal credo: the choice to live uncaged it was a path she followed with unyielding perseverance.” “There were very few chosen ones who could share her table when friends of youth began to disappear one after another Long gone are the years of the great reunions with Joe Eula Fernando Sanchez and Liza Minnelli in Sant Martì Vell around a paella in the middle of the garden of Casa Pequena Yet three gigantic pots remain of them hanging on the wall of Can Noves’s monumental kitchen as a perpetual reminder of glorious times now gone.” “These [pinboards] are works of art in the making The result is a work of art and should be preserved as such In an interview with the WSJ in 2018 Elsa says: ‘I live with these memories in front of me’ [There are] Photos taken by the great Catalan photographers in the late 1960s; Oriol Maspons photographing her in Port Lligat with Salvador Dalí; her King Charles spaniels faithful companions of the roaring years in New York; Halston smoking a cigarette; Fred Hughes Loulou de la Falaise – a world of creative geniuses who helped build her artistic journey over the decades.” “The Elsa Peretti Private Collection includes a group of 85 works by Robert Llimós providing him with artist residencies at Sant Martí Vell and promoting his oeuvre with exhibitions in Italy and Catalonia organised by her foundation as they were both part of the avant-garde cultural scene of the time She recognised in Robert Llimós a multidisciplinary artist who in addition to his broad knowledge base in painting Elsa Peretti identified her own work with contemporary artists such as Robert Llimós skilled in the exploration of both figurative and abstract forms as well as in the use of a range of materials to express themselves.” but her religiosity was expressed in her own form of a kind of universal deism her Catholic Italian roots from the 1950s had a profound influence on her growth as an artist opened her mind to a more universal form of spirituality made up of great respect for cultures and histories different from her own hung above the altar in the Sant Martí Vell Chapel [where her body now rests] defines Elsa’s past and present life In a simple sign that defines the contours of the Holy Virgin’s veil Elsa has managed to encapsulate all the mystery of motherhood In Catholic culture it is very common to wear an image of the Virgin around the neck but Elsa has been able to extract the feminine universe within her transforming it into a universal message that unites women all over the world in a simple line that nevertheless says it all.” The 50th anniversary collection will be available through 2024 and into 2025 at select Tiffany & Co stores worldwide, as well as on Tiffany.com. The many buildings she preserved at Sant Martí Vell include her laboratory, which is filled with an embarrassment of her sketches, and what is now an installation of her work alongside the ravishing pieces that she collected—antique Chinese bowls of delicately colored iced celadon amongst them. A gnarled, blackened staircase, a thing of absolute beauty, rises to a bedroom. In one corner is her Padova cutlery set, pinned to the wall. The flask for the water is like a silvered vessel with an opening for your hand. The sinuous silver candlesticks, abstracted from cow bones, hold candles reaching up to the sky. Elsa’s world is a potent one. Maria Doulton selects her favourite stories in this weekly newsletter Elsa Peretti may have been mostly known as the jewellery designer behind some of Tiffany’s iconic pieces but she also dedicated herself to the work of her charitable foundation for more than 20 years The Nando and Elsa Peretti Foundation was set up in 2000 by Peretti in honour of her father was considered a leading jewellery designer of her time and her work is included in various collections at the British Museum the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York The award-winning designer made her name with smooth-bodied minimalist silver pieces such as the Bone cuff and Scorpion and Snake jewels — each made to her exacting specifications the foundation has invested €75mn in more than 1,200 projects ranging from emergency disaster relief to wildlife conservation Peretti was involved in the day-to-day running of the foundation until her death she told a Catalan newspaper that “philanthropy should be at the frontline to promote the radical and systemic change we need” The foundation is now in charge of preserving Peretti’s real estate It was a life-long project for Peretti that began in 1968 and where she spent her final years She gradually restored each building and worked with leading architects and artists to create the perfect environment for her impressive art collection in a rambling series of carefully restored houses She oversaw it all with the same zeal she applied to her jewellery designs to define its continuous evolution towards perfection,” says Stefano Palumbo board member of the foundation and Peretti’s closest collaborator for 20 years it is a constantly evolving art installation and the foundation has a duty to preserve it as it is as Elsa conceived it: her great final masterpiece.” On special request Sant Martí Vell is open to visitors with specific interests or connections to art and design Peretti’s home in Sant Martí Vell The royalties generated from the copyrights to Peretti’s famous designs — which she created from 1974 onwards while working with Tiffany — contribute to the foundation’s philanthropic work a friend and collaborator of the fashion designer Roy Halston Frowick had witnessed how he lost control of his business through licensing agreements “The importance of owning the rights and the name goes back to the 1970s when she saw what happened to Halston,” explains Palumbo “The advice that Halston gave her at the time was: ‘Always keep total control of your name.’ Until the moment she passed away so she decided to give [the rights] to the foundation.” The LVMH group bought Tiffany in January 2021 for $15.8bn; Peretti died just two months later — at which point the ownership of her designs of jewels and objects transferred to the foundation. In 2013, Peretti had signed a 20-year contract with Tiffany which included a one-off payment of $47.26mn Elsa Peretti with then Tiffany chairman Henry Platt in the 1970s © PL Gould/Images Press/Getty ImagesElsa Peretti and her jewellery at the Tiffany flagship store in New York © PL Gould/Images Press/Getty ImagesIn 2023 although Tiffany — shares in which no longer trade on the stock market after the acquisition — will not reveal any financial details Peretti’s designs account for 10 per cent of Tiffany’s sales The brand has a history of seeking out artists and designers to enrich its offering and has copyright deals with Pritzker Prize-winning architect Frank Gehry and jewellery designer Paloma Picasso Sant Martí Vell is a testament to the two parties’ mutually beneficial relationship Peretti went to Catalonia to focus on design She learnt to work metal with Catalan silversmiths starting with sculpture before moving on to jewellery It was here that Peretti hand hammered her very first Bone cuff which went on to become one of Tiffany’s most recognisable pieces To celebrate the 50th year of the collaboration Tiffany will release a series of jewels based on the original designs that embody Peretti’s unique and enduring appeal Catalonia influenced all of Peretti’s designs inspired by the fields of spring flowers surrounding the hamlet Tiffany is marking the 50th anniversary of its collaboration with Peretti with a reissue of her most iconic designs “In fact all of Elsa’s designs originated from something that happened in Sant Martí Vell,” he says “The discovery of a snake skeleton in the village square  Although suffering from having to sacrifice it it allowed her to give life to one of the most revolutionary designs in the history of jewellery art He says these examples “explain why Sant Martí Vell is not just a village in the Catalan countryside — it is the special place from which all of Peretti’s creativity explodes.” Palumbo says that Peretti’s commitment to Catalonia and its craftsmanship was such that she insisted on conducting business meetings with Tiffany around her kitchen table “This was the place where she preferred to talk about business — even if she couldn’t boil an egg.” This website is using a security service to protect itself from online attacks The action you just performed triggered the security solution There are several actions that could trigger this block including submitting a certain word or phrase You can email the site owner to let them know you were blocked Please include what you were doing when this page came up and the Cloudflare Ray ID found at the bottom of this page Look out for your first newsletter in your inbox soon We help you navigate a myriad of possibilities Sign up for our newsletter for the best of the city By entering your email address you agree to our Terms of Use and Privacy Policy and consent to receive emails from Time Out about news Sign up for our email to enjoy your city without spending a thing (as well as some options when you’re feeling flush) Our newsletter hand-delivers the best bits to your inbox Sign up to unlock our digital magazines and also receive the latest news By entering your email address you agree to our Terms of Use and Privacy Policy and consent to receive emails from Time Out about news, events, offers and partner promotions. Barcelona Despite having been born out of difficulties and complaints from neighbours Poblenou's Central Park has become an ideal spot for walks especially the species indigenous to the Mediterranean The park boasts more than five hectares of green thematic areas and a cutting-edge design by French architect Jean Nouvel It was designed with environmental criteria to store and treat water ensuring irrigation at all points of the park through a groundwater drip Thanks for subscribing! Look out for your first newsletter in your inbox soon! facebooktwitterspotifytiktokAbout us Contact us Time Out Worldwide An hour and a half’s drive northeast of Barcelona lies the sleepy village of Sant Marti Vell At first glance it looks no different from any other 16th-century settlement in this part of Catalonia but within its thick stone walls visitors get an extraordinary insight into the life of one of the world’s most important jewellery designers It is 50 years since Peretti joined Tiffany & Co and 56 years since she bought her first home in the village she had bought and renovated 27 houses and large farmhouses artists and local creatives while living permanently from the 1980s between four of them — Casa Pequeña (the first house she bought here in 1968) Can Noves and Casa Caballo — moving according to season with dining chairs by Xavier Corberó and Elsa Peretti and a millstone converted to a table with a marble carving of Peretti’s mother’s handsGREGORI CIVERAToday the houses are looked after by the Nando and Elsa Peretti Foundation a philanthropic organisation named in honour of her father with Peretti’s personal staff retained to manage the estate To be shown around by them is the closest one can get to understanding the life and mind of this notoriously press-shy designer Peretti’s desk and pinboard for inspiration at Casa Pequeña with a draft version of her last catalogue for Tiffany & CoGREGORI CIVERAWalking through the multiple spaces of the four homes some of which are linked by a series of underground tunnels Against a backdrop of original features — stone walls fireplaces and traditional stone sinks — a lifetime of acquired objects Peretti was an obsessive collector and supporter of local craft commissioning furniture and sculpture from Spanish artists while mixing art from Africa Japan and China in a heady combination of genres and styles 1976HORST P HORST/CONDÉ NAST VIA GETTY IMAGESFlashes of her life in New York as a model and friend of Halston Helmut Newton and Liza Minnelli are tantalisingly visible while a whole room is dedicated to her friend Salvador Dalí Until her death Peretti could be found continuously editing and curating her possessions and since that moment every room has been left untouched Spaces range from small and intimate to large and grandiose black-and-white photographs on a desk show Peretti working with local builders and artisans to restore this first house in 1968; she moved in alone with no electricity or running water Above them on a pinboard are sketches and notes and the last Tiffany catalogue she was working on before she died A print by Richard Hamilton sits beside a sculpture by Joan Gardy Artigas with an emerald eye — it was this contrast of local art and the international avant-garde the designer cherished featuring Heart by Marcel Duchamp (1961) and Gos-Lluna (1973) by Llimós and walls painted with crushed lapis lazuliGREGORI CIVERAAttention to every detail mattered In a small bedroom in Can Noves the walls are painted with crushed lapis lazuli mixed with chalk to a specific shade Peretti wanted and the blue can be found throughout the houses On the walls are a picture by Robert Llimós (she was an avid collector) and a Marcel Duchamp while the original wooden prototype for Peretti’s iconic Bone cuff sits on a shelf casually mixed in with local finds On the back of the door is a fur coat; on the windowsill a collection of smooth pebbles she loved A photograph by Cartier-Bresson and a sketch by Picasso hang nearby The water tower at Casa GrandeGREGORI CIVERAAs the houses became more habitable Peretti started to entertain — not necessarily with large parties but intimate gatherings of her friends including the Catalan artists Xavier Corberó and Llimós The grand living room of Casa Grande was perfect for this and she would host flamenco evenings Dinner would be served around an ancient millstone so big and heavy that it was craned in through the window (Peretti and Minnelli tried to move it to a different spot when it arrived Smoking continuously and ­surrounded by her many dogs with ample food served on her Tiffany homeware and illuminated by her silver Bone candlesticks Pudding would be her favourite local soft cheese drizzled with honey with works by Robert LlimósGREGORI CIVERAReferences to her life as a jeweller can be spotted everywhere in this central room — a Gaudí Batllo bench with curved seats is reminiscent of her famous Bean collection A huge African woven straw mask is displayed (plus several others throughout the houses) in a nod to her love of texture and the intricacy of woven materials as seen in her Tiffany gold Mesh collection Specially commissioned patinated bronze chairs by Corberó are significant: she met him in the late 1960s and he taught her how to work in metal a long-time collaborator with Peretti on jewellery campaigns which she would later incorporate into her jewellery and homeware collections The bathroom in the water tower of Casa Grande featuring a collage based on Helmut Newton’s “Elsa Peretti in a ‘Bunny’ costume by Halston” (1975)GREGORI CIVERATexture form and a strong palette are recurring themes centuries’ worth of thick soot from the open fire covers the kitchen walls Peretti revelled in the contrast of the black against her silver Tiffany Padova cutlery While entertaining she would fill her cobalt Venetian glass bowls with apricots or boiled eggs cut in half so that the orange yolks contrasted with the blue Piles of her glossy lacquer Doughnut bangles would be left stacked on a table alongside photographs of her dogs books by David Attenborough and an old Christie’s catalogue Objects collected by Peretti and a Tiffany & Co Bone cuff prototype in the blue bedroom at Can NovesGREGORI CIVERAOther rooms have been allowed to function purely as aesthetic spaces In the tack room of the Can Noves stables are rows of ancient saddles their leather embellished with Peretti’s Tiffany Equestrian belt buckles Other areas are wonderfully pared back and almost monastic in their simplicity — Peretti was fascinated by Japan and inspired by the concept of “shibui” in which stone and wood are left unadorned to show their beauty rustic character runs through every property and sits in tandem with her collection of art and artefacts with a lamp by Gio PontiGREGORI CIVERAThe village chapel which Peretti restored (it is also her final resting place) the director of the Nando and Elsa Peretti Foundation and a close confidant of the designer describes it as “a kind of masterpiece in its simplicity and power” He adds: “It shows a profound respect for her Italian Catholic roots but also demonstrates the power of the feminine.” with hanging Madonna sculpture and candlesticks by PerettiGREGORI CIVERAPeretti never married or had children — an act of societal rebellion that Palumbo believes took enormous strength He thinks that of all her possessions and spaces it is this simple sculpture that sums her up best and that the act of curating the interiors within Sant Marti Vell afforded her the freedom and creativity she needed Seeing the rooms of this extraordinary woman is a profoundly intimate experience. For those who worked with her closely, they still feel highly emotive. As Palumbo says: “It’s hard to see this place without her, and see and smell her soul in every single room.”nandoandelsaperettifoundation.org Urban Planning and Mobility Area is responsible for providing municipal services linked to the public areas and city services which make life easier for people who live and work in the city.  The City Council seeks to ensure a quality public space a green and biodiverse city that is productive and resilient a city committed to active and sustainable mobility with public involvement and commitment Urban Planning and Mobility Area has different instruments as well as advisory and participatory bodies for effective involvement and collaboration in municipal projects with the general public The Council sees to the smooth running of the city services to ensure the daily wellbeing of the public and contribute towards the city's development Work has now been completed on four new public housing blocks in Sant Martí constructed using industrialised techniques in a faster and more sustainable process Between them the blocks offer 151 flats with official protection The keys are expected to be handed over to tenants this year The blocks started being built at the end of 2022 and early in 2023 Recent months have seen the administrative steps completed for the definitive classification of the homes and the activation of services and utilities Two of the blocks are located in the neighbourhood of La Verneda i la Pau while the other two are in the neighbourhood of El Besòs i el Maresme: The construction methods and materials used in industrial housing offer fast and efficient solutions in shorter time frames than for conventional building methods Traditional time frames for projects of this type can take at least two years while industrialised methods cut that to just over a year They also enable CO2 emissions to be reduced by 30% compared to conventional construction Lola Iturbe and Pallars have been built with prefabricated panels made with wood from sustainable forests attained in the most efficient way and reducing emissions The four blocks bring the number of industrially built housing blocks in the city to nine These include the APROP temporary housing blocks in the Gòtic neighbourhood and in Glòries The Municipal Institute of Housing also has two further blocks in progress in the area of the old barrack blocks in Sant Andreu and another ready to be started in C/ Víctor Colomer another block at the Illa Glòries is currently nearing completion with Block A there also built with a wooden structure and industrialised methods The XVI Sant Marti Open was the third tournament on trot in the Catalonian circuit for me It was held from the 13th-21st of July 2014 in Sant Marti This tournament holds special significance for me as I completed my IM title formalities in this tournament by crossing the 2400 Elo mark So technically this is the first report I am writing for ChessBase after becoming an International Master The first real change for the players was to travel in the metro While the Montcada and Barbera Opens could be reached only by Renfe (train) the best way to get to the Sant Marti playing hall was by underground But there was huge difference between the Renfe and the Metro While people in the Renfe looked pretty cheerful and happy I tried to figure out the reason for the same: maybe it was because the metro travelled only underground with no scenery to be seen outside the window played its part Also the time at which a station would come after another was quite short Doors remain open only for a short while and people have to be constantly alert not to miss their stop Players enjoying a nice analytical session before the game And a really novel chess shop – guess what they sold chess earrings and similar chess related accessories In such a light and lively “chessic” atmosphere it was fitting that the first place was won by a lively young and energetic GM from Armenia Karen scored 7.5/9 and had an impressive Elo performance of 2677 After finishing 11th at Montcada and second at Barbera he keeps improving his play and performing better and better in this Catalonian circuit The thoroughly elated winner with his fans and friends This beautiful trophy and €1200 was what Karen won Karen usually likes to play complicated and exciting chess However his game against GM Perez Mitjans Orelvis was a fine positional effort by the young Armenian [Event "XVI Obert Internacional Sant Martí 2014"] [Site "Barcelona Carrer Selva de Mar"] [Date "2014.07.18"] [Round "6.2"] [White "Grigoryan Orelvis"] [Result "1-0"] [ECO "A00"] [WhiteElo "2592"] [BlackElo "2414"] [PlyCount "101"] [EventDate "2014.07.13"] [EventRounds "9"] [EventCountry "ESP"] 1 The 19-year-old Peruvian Jorge Cori (2608) played great chess to finish second with a score of 7.0/9 He is playing fantastic chess and gains rating in such open events in spite of having such a high Elo The tense game between the two 19-year-olds ended in a draw in round seven What particularly impressed me were his endgame skills After seeing this game and a few others you might be convinced that playing the exchange Slav from the white side against Jorge might not be such a good idea Carrer Selva de Ma"] [Site "Barcelona Carrer Selva de Ma"] [Date "2014.07.20"] [Round "8.3"] [White "Matsenko Jorge"] [Result "0-1"] [ECO "A00"] [WhiteElo "2474"] [BlackElo "2608"] [PlyCount "146"] [EventDate "2014.07.13"] [EventRounds "9"] [EventCountry "ESP"] 1 While Karen Grigoriyan and Cori Jorge did play well it was quite expected of them to be amongst the top What was really surprising was the phenomenal performance by the 15-year-old FM Jose Eduardo Martinez Alacantara (2295) The young boy from Peru played the tournament of his life scoring 7.0/9 (five wins and four draws) with a rating performance of 2654 and gaining 84 Elo points in the process He is surely one of those talents that you have to watch out for FM Jose Martinez has an extremely solid repertoire from the white side playing the super solid English systems advocated by Mihail Marin in his books on English Opening He did the heavy hitting with the white pieces FM Perez Arian Gonzalez (2494) and IM Saptarshi Roy (2449) in the process With black his games were much more fighting as he employed interesting variations like the King’s Indian and Dutch He was able to beat GM Peralta Fernando (2592) in a game where he won by a knight promotion on the last move [Event "XVI Obert Internacional Sant Martí 201"] [Site "Barcelona Carrer Selva de Ma"] [Date "2014.07.19"] [Round "7.3"] [White "Peralta Fernando"] [Black "Martinez Alcantara Jose Eduardo"] [Result "0-1"] [ECO "A00"] [WhiteElo "2596"] [BlackElo "2295"] [PlyCount "166"] [EventDate "2014.07.13"] [EventRounds "9"] [EventCountry "ESP"] 1 Jose Martinez with his mother Violeta Alacantra who was justifiably proud of her son’s play Jose Eduardo has already finished his IM title requirements when he tied for the first place in the under-20 South American championships held in Bolivia in April 2014 He only needs to apply to the FIDE for the title He has already been world Under-13 schools champion in 2012 and is two-time Pan American Junior Champion This boy has great talent and is bound to become a GM soon The experienced GM Vladimir Burmakin (2590) finished fourth FM Oliva Kevel (2419) had already performed excellently when he had scored an IM norm in both Montcada Open and also in Barbera He went one step further in the Sant Marti Open scoring a GM norm with a performance of 2615 On his way to the GM norm he beat strong players like IM Asis Gargatagli Hipolito(2460) GM Cristhian Cruz (2563) and GM Perez Mitjans Orelvis (2414) He is waiting for his IM title to be confirmed at the next FIDE congress At the age of 20 he is surely of the brightest hopes of Cuba having scored two IM and on GM norm in just 27 days The tournament organizers would usually be quite happy if two players made GM norms in their tournament Sant Marti Open witnessed totally three GM norm winners Rolando Alarcon Casellas finished tenth by scoring 6.0/9 one point less than the other two GM norm winners But he played fantastic chess to beat four GMs in the tournament: GM Cristhian Cruz (2563) GM Movsziszian Karen (2520) and GM Vladimir Burmakin (2590) He made his GM norm with two rounds to spare maintains a very high level of play and has some amazing achievements to his credit He has been four times blind world champion and ten times Polish National Blind champion He has won Poland a medal at the Olympiad on four occasions – a Gold in the year 2004 Apart from that he serves as president of the Association of Physical Culture Sports and Tourism of the Blind and Partially Sighted and Vice President of the International Chess Federation of the Blind He is also a board member of Polish Paralympic Committee This man is truly a versatile personality and has achieved so much in his career Larsson Anders made an IM norm in the tournament scoring 5.5/9 The chief arbiter of the event Miquel Fernandez Diaz is an extremely cheerful person – and fluent in English He was the saviour for foreign players who had any doubts during That’s the best kind of entertainment for a chess fan There is just so much experience in this picture Analyzing his game all alone – that is true chess passion The Matsenko family from Russia are true chess lovers mother Elena Matsenko (1929) and the father Vadim Matsenko (2108) all played in Group A Sergei's brother Andrei Matsenko (2294) did not turn up for the last game and this picture The two players who reached 2400 in this tournament and thus completed their IM titles: yours truly Sagar Shah on the right and Australian Rishi Sardana who incidentally made his fourth IM norm in this tournament These were the small placards made by the organizers for each and every player Look at the little things they have taken care of There is a FIDE rating with FIDE symbol above it As both the players are not from Spain they do not have a national Elo On the right are the flags of the country they represent and above that are the logos of the players' national federations Storm clouds gathering over the playing hall A majority of the photos were taken by Pau Pascual Duran, who is an extremely enthusiastic photographer and produced quite a lot of unconventional and exciting pictures in this tournament. He is also a player and played in the B category of the tournament scoring 4.0/9. You can read the articles written by him on chess in Libro de Notas and next in line is the Sitges Open from 22nd July to 30th July playing three tournaments in a row has taken a toll on me and my wife Amruta and hence we will take a ten-day break We will be back to playing chess and reporting for ChessBase in the Badalona Open from the 2nd to 10th August 2014 Three people from the same family were found dead on Friday, showing signs of violence, according to Catalan police (Mossos d'Esquadra) and the Catalan High Court (TSJC).  The body of a woman was found in a home in the Sant Martí district of Barcelona after 10:00am.  An hour later, a man's body was found in Molins de Rei, just outside Barcelona.  The third body was also found in Molins de Rei, another man who apparently died by suicide, according to the police.  It is suspected that the third body belonged to a man who killed his parents before taking his own life.  The criminal investigation unit has taken charge of the investigation.  Get the day's biggest stories right to your phone At age 74, Peretti retains the vitality for which she is well known, but absent is the lithe figure that propelled her into modeling stardom in 1970s New York, before she launched her wildly successful jewelry line for Tiffany & Co., which this year celebrates her 40th anniversary there. In recent years it seems that actual poble have begun to infiltrate this remote enclave. “The village is becoming a bit of a nightmare! People come and peep through windows,” Peretti complains. “Maybe I should open up a pizzeria.” (I didn’t spot any interlopers during my visit.) Peretti’s solution was to restore a long-abandoned stone building she has owned for 46 years, located down a more remote road, and make that her primary residence, though she goes back and forth to the various buildings in the village, occupying each when it suits her. Is it ironic, or fitting, that her new home outlasted a plague? For Elsa herself did the same in Manhattan, during the height of the AIDS crisis. “All my friends are dead,” she says bluntly. So there must have been much alarm at Fifth Avenue and 57th Street in May 2012, after Peretti expressed a desire to call it quits. The company reportedly made a substantial offer to buy the rights to Peretti’s brand and its intellectual property, but six months passed before an agreement could be reached. Finally, on December 27, Tiffany announced a new, 20-year contract with the designer. Peretti, in addition to increased royalties for future sales that will bring her many millions, received an immediate $47.3 million payment. “It was my price for the past,” she told me shortly after the deal was announced. “It might look like a lot, but, after taxes, it’s not really, for the work I’ve done.” Peretti didn’t need the money; she was born into one of Italy’s wealthiest families. Her father, Ferdinando Peretti, in 1933 founded Anonima Petroli Italiana (API), which became a giant oil-and-energy corporation. But after 1961, when Elsa rebelled and ran away from her highly conservative family in Rome, the purse strings were cut. Peretti eventually fled to Barcelona, where she tried her hand at modeling. Elsa’s father and her mother, Maria Luigia, both of them severe, stopped speaking to her for years. Franco-era Barcelona was gritty and raffish, but it was heaven to Peretti. “The Marines, the whores, the flowers, the ocean,” she reminisces. Peretti became intimate with la gauche divine, intellectuals opposed to Franco. 1 / 7ChevronChevronA guest room at Can Novas, Peretti’s farmhouse, outside the village of Sant Martí Vell.Peretti never liked modeling. It “terrified” her at first, but it paid the bills. She was represented by the Wilhelmina agency, and her tall and sophisticated look caught on among designers from Charles James to Issey Miyake, who cherry-picked her to walk their runways. One of the first to spot her special quality was Roy Halston Frowick, whom she first met in the late 60s. “Elsa was different from the other models,” the designer recalled. “The others were clothes racks—you’d make them up, fix their hair, and then they’d put their blue jeans back on. But Elsa had style: she made the dress she was modeling her own.” When the two first met, he was still a milliner at Bergdorf Goodman. Elsa began to socialize with him, often on Fire Island—an environment not conducive to genuine friendship, she says. “I like gay people, but not when they’re all together. I had the best time with him when we got away from fashion and all those people, like when we went to the movies,” she says (citing the 1976 Richard Pryor comedy Car Wash as one of their best filmgoing experiences). “Little by little, we became friends. At that point, there was no coke; we were just smoking joints.” Around the pair, a tight posse coalesced that included designer Giorgio di Sant’Angelo, illustrator Joe Eula, and Victor Hugo (Halston’s troublemaking hustler boyfriend), as well as Andy Warhol. In the early years the clique often gathered at Halston’s rental apartment on East 55th Street (which became Peretti’s home in 1974, when Halston moved on up to his haute-minimalist town house on East 63rd Street). “Joe was the most interesting and warmest of the group. He made spaghetti for us. Stephen Burrows made potato salad. Halston made a whiskey sour that was divine. He drank Johnnie Walker Black, always,” says Elsa. Elizabeth Taylor, an occasional guest, preferred Jim Beam bourbon. And lots of it: “She could really hold her liquor,” says Elsa. “My goodness, she could drink!” Elsa’s favorite part of the 70s was the dancing: “Everybody was shaking and moving. Not like today, where everybody is so tense.” She hit surely every disco and club in town, from Le Jardin and Max’s Kansas City to the Saint, Studio 54, and Paradise Garage, which was among her favorites—“It was mostly a black crowd and had the best music ever.” Many of her memories of that epoch are out of focus, Peretti admits. And not just because of the alcohol and drugs. “I wanted to look good, so I didn’t wear my glasses. So it’s all a bit of a blur.” By this time, it was apparently an exception if Elsa was sober. The December 23, 1976, entry in The Andy Warhol Diaries: “Office Christmas party [Elsa] was saying how wonderful it was to be with me and not be on anything.” A few years later, Halston asked Elsa to design the bottle for his perfume. Executives at Max Factor initially resisted Peretti’s bulbous teardrop shape, however. Bottles had to be rectangular, they said. After a launch in 1976 that is considered the most successful in fragrance history, the scent was a best-seller for years—thanks in no small part to Peretti’s design. Her compensation? “He said, ‘Would you like $25,000 or a sable?’ ” she remembers. “I said, ‘The sable.’ ” A fateful decision, as we shall see in a moment. By now, her line was thriving at Tiffany. Halston had taken her to see C.E.O. Walter Hoving in 1974, and the executive signed her up immediately. “After that, things went BOOM,” says Peretti. Her simple, sensual, sculptural shapes transformed the way women wore jewelry. A 1977 Newsweek cover story went so far as to claim that her designs had started the biggest revolution in jewelry since the Renaissance. It has been said that Elsa’s new stardom added tension to her relationship with Halston. But there seems to have always been intense emotional and sexual energy between them. “The only problem was they never fucked,” said Eula. While drama had been the norm between them for a while, everything came to a head and exploded in January 1978 at Halston’s town house, during what was supposed to be a cozy evening with just them and Eula. (“A simple dinner of caviar, baked potato, and cocaine,” Eula recalled.) What transpired has become a fashion legend, though accounts have varied. But there is no dispute that the evening ended after Elsa yelled “Fuck you” to Halston and flung the fur he had given her into a roaring fire, which incinerated the garment immediately. In Simply Halston: The Untold Story, author Steven Gaines suggested that the sable had been a bone of contention for Peretti since it was part of her comparatively minimal compensation for her bottle design for the fragrance. (Gaines wrote that Halston had also given her a $25,000 check.) Elsa herself has never really explained her motivation that evening. After a three-month no-speak—during which he moved his design studio into its palatial new Olympic Tower quarters—the pair collided late one April night in the basement of Studio 54. In her limo on the way over, cocaine had already been snorted, as her date, Bob Colacello, recounted in his memoir, Holy Terror: Andy Warhol Close Up. Things got off on the wrong foot after Studio proprietor Steve Rubell, who was sitting with Halston, said to Elsa, “Have another vodka, honey pie.” “How dare you call me ‘honey pie,’” Elsa snarled. David Geffen, sitting at the same table, tried to explain to her that “honey pie” in America was a term of affection, which only made Elsa more upset. Finally, Halston spoke up: “This is why I don’t want to see you.” It went from bad to worse: “I am not going to be thrown out of a basement by a faggot queen like you! You’re nothing but a no-culture cheap faggot dressmaker!” she screamed. “And you’re nothing but a low-class cheap jewelry designer,” he snapped back. Before Halston could leave, she emptied a bottle of vodka on his shoes, then smashed it to the ground, sending everyone fleeing. “It’s enough to make you want to stay home for the rest of your life,” recorded Andy in his diary after he learned about the incident the next day (as did much of Manhattan, via “Radio Rubell,” according to Colacello). Was it a testament to Elsa’s magnetism or a reflection of the era’s decadence that barely a week later Studio 54 was begging her to come back? The Warhol Diaries, April 23, 1978: “Stevie called and told me to ask Bob to invite Elsa Peretti, he said he didn’t care about that fight in the basement.” But not long after that, Elsa realized it was time to move on. “New York is not good for the relation,” she was quoted explaining a few years later. After reading The Warhol Diaries in 1987, she was even more grateful she had relocated. “In the end I was a little disappointed by Andy. He was a bit of a shit,” she says today. Throughout the 70s, she had been slowly restoring Sant Martí Vell and using it as a temporary escape hatch from New York. With the dawn of the 80s it became her permanent refuge. Today she owns numerous other dwellings—apartments in Rome, Monte Carlo, Barcelona, and New York, and a spectacular stone tower in Porto Ercole, Italy, which dates from the 16th century—but she seldom visits them. Elsa has never married, but she’s certainly had her share of lovers. Her longest relationship was with Stefano Magini, a rugged guy whom she first met in 1978, when he was delivering stone to her home in Porto Ercole and knocked down her gate with his truck. He’s been described as a contractor. “He was basically a truckdriver,” says Elsa. “We were together 23 years. Ten were great.” There’s a monastic quality to Sant Martí Vell. It’s about work. There is always a project. The new house she just moved into had sat empty for four decades after she bought it before she decided to focus on it. A few years ago, she also built a sophisticated winery and launched a serious line of fine wines under the label Eccoci, which in Italian means “Here we are.” Clearly what consumes her is the collection she has created for Tiffany. She supports ateliers of artisans in Japan and Italy, but many of her craftsmen are near Sant Martí. She has a tight bond with them, as she does with her customers. “While my mark is still alive, I dedicate every second of my life to be fair with myself, to my people, and my customers. I demand a lot from myself. Maybe I am a little too Taurus. But at least I feel I accomplished something,” she says. Her output, she explains, stems primarily from intuition and enthusiasm. When fallow periods come, as they often do, she goes on hiatus. “Then you have to go in another direction—rest, read. I never force myself to work.” Peretti doesn’t hide her satisfaction about what she’s earned. “I am very happy with what I’ve done. I knew a man wasn’t going to give me money.” Elsa attempted to have a role managing the company but was rebuffed. She sued her sister for an even 50 percent stake, which eventually led to an epic corporate and legal battle that lasted approximately four years. In 1989 an arbitration panel awarded her an additional 4.75 percent of the stock, but that still left her at 49 percent. An angry Elsa had her family buy her shares, which left her sitting on hundreds of millions of dollars, according to estimates. It was money she didn’t feel right spending on herself. So in 2000 she transferred the bulk of those assets into a charity she launched and named after her father, the Nando Peretti Foundation. Since then the organization has given away more than $50 million on projects ranging from wildlife conservation and human rights to health and education in 68 countries. “The diversity of her foundation is extraordinary,” attested wildlife advocate (and brother of the Duchess of Cornwall) Mark Shand before his death, in April. “Yet the way she puts it together and runs it is so personal. She picks every project very, very carefully,” said Shand, whose organization, Elephant Family, has received N.P.F. grants. “It’s a serious foundation—it’s not for taxes,” Elsa comments. Elsa Peretti still knows how to make an entrance. She appears for her portrait garbed in a bright-yellow caftan, which was designed, not surprisingly, by Halston. She makes frequent jokes about the wider girth she possesses today. “Charles James told me, ‘Don’t get too thin—because when you’re older you will get fatter,’ ” she says. But refreshingly, unlike so many others, she is comfortable in her own skin. “No retouching,” she orders photographer Eric Boman. “This is how I am.” Even during her party-hopping years, Peretti was an elusive person. For some time now she has avoided the media. Filmmaker Whitney Sudler-Smith doggedly pursued her to appear in his 2010 documentary, Ultrasuede: In Search of Halston, but she never responded to his requests. She prefers to think about the future, she says. But after the portrait shoot is over, and a bottle of vodka is opened in her kitchen, she offers a few thoughts on the designer and her relationship with him. “What I really valued about Halston was the encouragement he gave me. When you like something somebody does, it’s important to tell them. Nobody tells you now. “Now everybody talks about his sex life and the coke, but he was working all the time—he was an incredible businessman. The problem was he never had a partner, like a Pierre Bergé or Giancarlo Giammetti, so he did everything himself and was always desperately trying to stay on top. He was up all night cutting. But it was incredible to see him cut. He was a much better cutter than anybody now.” Two years before his death, in 1990, the pair had a rapprochement, when he visited her in Porto Ercole. They phoned Joe Eula for laughs and tried to focus on the happier aspects of their relationship as they enjoyed the splendors of Peretti’s tower. In contrast to her rustic interiors in Spain, the appointments inside Porto Ercole, designed by the late Milanese master Renzo Mongiardino, are quite sumptuous. “Halston would never come here,” Elsa interjects with a mixture of humor and umbrage in her voice. “It wasn’t grand enough.” This menu requires arrow keys to be able to use it which has been spearheaded by the Sant Martí district and funded with the tourist tax explore the natural settings and some of the iconic locations of the neighbourhoods on the banks of the Besòs river The four new healthy routes will enable both residents and visitors to the Sant Martí district to enjoy the most iconic parts of El Besòs River Park. People taking these routes will be able to enjoy the biodiversity of this natural setting and discover the plants and wildlife native to the Besòs river delta The signposted paths and trails start at various points on Rambla de Prim and end at El Besòs River Park They provide an easy way to engage in leisure and sport activities while discovering points of cultural historical and architectural interest to help residents and visitors learn more about the neighbourhoods in this part of Sant Martí If you take the one that goes all the way along Carrer de Santander to Passera del Molinet you will pass the Romanesque rectory of Sant Martí de Provençals and go through the neighbourhoods of Via Trajana and Bon Pastor The route starting at Rambla de Prim and along Rambla de Guipúzcoa will take you past various modern and Romanesque monuments as well as several museums and cultural institutions which runs along Carrer Cristóbal de Moura showcases the distinctive features of the left bank of the River Besòs the route along the coastline to the mouth of the river will give you the chance to explore the Parc del Fòrum all the way from Barcelona’s Museu de Ciències Naturals to the photovoltaic panel as well as the beaches up to Parc de la Pau The project has been spearheaded by the Sant Martí district and is funded with the tourist tax (IEET) to help decentralise tourism in the city and revitalise its neighbourhoods. More information about the routes is available on the website You can also obtain an information brochure from the district’s Citizen Help and Information Offices (OAC) The homes have been assigned, according to type, as follows: six flats for local residents in the neighbourhood of La Verneda i la Pau and adjacent areas, such as the Bon Pastor neighbourhood; two flats for single-parent families; two flats for people with reduced mobility. The rest were awarded to other young people on the Register of Applicants for Officially Protected Housing in Barcelona. The people moving into the flats will pay rents linked to the floor space of their home approximately between 415 and 515 euros a month The block has a ground floor which will be used for a facility The distribution of the homes guarantees good ventilation and natural light The rooftop is accessible and includes a communal space for clothes lines and a green area which first opened in 1995 and was reinaugurated in 2018 after extensive renovations where you could theoretically (or literally among all of which there are top international brands and chains Big clothing names have some of their local flagship stores in Glòries so all in one space you can visit Armani Exchange as you can also stop into FNAC for entertainment and the eight-screen cinema (foreign films are mostly dubbed into Spanish) a space that feels like a traditional city market but that offers restaurants featuring Catalan Spanish and international cuisine all made with fresh produce.What's more walking around Glòries is like exploring Barcelona in miniature Its layout reproduces the grid that the urban planner Ildefons Cerdà designed at the end of the 19th century and its open spaces offer the feeling of moving through the streets of Barcelona's Eixample neighbourhood Archive Art First published: January 24, 2024 10:33 AM In 2023, the Observatory against LGBTI-phobia registered a total of 302 cases of violence and discrimination against the LGBTI community in Catalonia, an increase of 27.4% since 2022. This is the highest number ever registered by the organization.    53% of all cases registered by the Observatory took place in the city of Barcelona, with Sant Martí being the district with the most registered cases, followed by Sants-Montjuïc and l’Eixample. Furthermore, 77% of all cases of discrimination and violence against the collective took place in the province of Barcelona.  119 of the registered cases of LGBTI-phobia were reported by gay men, while 41 cases were reported by trans women.   Almost one in every four cases of discrimination and violence took place in public spaces.  The three most common types of aggression registered in 2023 were cases of verbal assault, which accounted for 24.8% of all cases, followed by expressions of hatred with 24.5%, and physical assault made up 23.5% of all cases.   According to the president of the Observatory against LGBTI-phobia, Eugeni Rodríguez, the numbers are “worrying” and he blamed “the far-right hate speech” as well as “the lack of political will” to reverse the situation.    On Thursday, the Observatory met with Barcelona’s mayor Jaume Collboni to stress the importance of “strengthening current protocols” to “face the increase in cases head-on” and the need for a protocol for how to handle LGBTI-phobia in public transport. According to the observatory, the Barcelona protocol, “should be the instrument that drives the policies against violence and discrimination” against the LGBTI collective. So far in 2024, the observatory has registered four cases of LGBTI-phobia in Catalonia. The page may no longer exist or may have moved to another web address Try again to locate what you want by choosing a section from the navigation menu at top or using the search box above This year about 20 bonfires will be lit in Barcelona for Sant Joan night and dozens of street parties are organized Although the tradition has been maintained hundreds of bonfires burned Barcelona during the Revetlla de Sant Joan compared to the twenty that are authorized this 2024 of burning the old and celebrating the arrival of summer According to anthropologist Manuel Delgado it was the kids who for weeks collected the wood and junk to make them The gangs would go through the streets and hide the material they found from the firefighters and the Guardia Urbana so they could burn it during the Revetlla Although there is less and less of that spontaneous Barcelona with groups of grandmothers sitting in chairs in the middle of the street gossiping about salseos neighborhood because there are scheduled about 50 Revetlles de Sant Joan around the city not counting the bonfires and the gresca i xerinola that is organized around it in order not to lose the tradition and continue claiming the popular festivals and public space as a community meeting point we tell you where you can still enjoy this party that celebrates with fire the shortest day of the year what will the weather be like during the night of Sant Joan On Friday and Saturday the maximum temperatures will be around 27º it will rain and temperatures will drop to 24º Barcelona’s public transport will have some special services so that moving anywhere in the city will not be a problem Metro services will open throughout the night without interruption and streetcars will do the same at intervals of between 15 and 30 minutes will reinforce some NitBus lines in order to accommodate a greater number of passengers such as Ferrocarrils and Renfe Cercanías will maintain their usual schedules As explained by the Barcelona City Council, in 1955 Francesc Pujades, a resident of North Catalonia (France), inspired by the poem Canigó had the idea of lighting the fires of San Juan at the top of the mountain and spread the flame everywhere the Flama del Canigó leaves the Castellet of Perpignan climbs to the top of Canigó and lights a bonfire that serves to light a bonfire with which volunteers will light lanterns that will spread the flame throughout the Catalan territory on horseback… the Flame travels in a thousand different ways to arrive on time to the squares of the different Catalan towns and light the bonfires of San Juan thus mixing two traditions to celebrate the solstice and the union of the Catalan people Remember as the saying goes: qui encén foc per Sant Joan So whether you believe in these ancient superstitions or not we bring you all the bonfires that will burn in Barcelona 2024: Beyond the verbenas and neighborhood bonfires, one of the most common traditions is to celebrate Sant Joan on the beach. This year will be no different, but a rule that was initiated during the pandemic will be maintained: the chiringuitos will not be allowed to set up their own parties, so any celebration of the Sant Joan verbena on the beach will have to take place outside of them. In addition, to ensure safety and cleanliness, the beaches of Barcelona will be vacated at 6:30 am. View this post on Instagram Yes with high auditory sensitivity or simply who do not like loud noise This is not to say that they don’t want to celebrate this holiday but that the roar of some firecrackers is the element that limits their fun which last year inaugurated the first silent and low noise firecracker stand in Barcelona La Traca defends that although its pyrotechnics are silent and luminous is no less fun than traditional firecrackers Their booths are located on Avenida Meridiana with Calle Zamora and Via Favencia 441 and their firecrackers are either silent Thank you for subscribing to the Casa Batlló newsletter You will receive all our latest news and updates soon Jan Grau is one of the greatest popular and traditional Catalan culture experts He began his career in the world of “gegants” (big cardboard figures) and “castellers” (human towers) and later became a Cultural Technician of the Generalitat He is the author of several books and was recently awarded the “Joan Amades” award for his work studying Jan collaborates with various cultural and publishing projects and continues to write providing an ideal opportunity to discuss this legendary animal Sant Jordi became a saint in the 5th century It tells us that a Roman soldier was tortured for seven years for defying the established power the legend of this saint evolved at a popular level and the “La leyenda dorada” added two key aspects: that he was a knight and that he killed a dragon Thus he constructed an ideal tale for the knights of the time that of a person who fights against a dragon to save a maiden without expecting anything in return It was very bucolic and had a lot to offer Where can we see the legend represented in Barcelona  There are more than 500 representations of Sant Jordi in the city We find them both on the facades and inside the buildings what are the peculiarities of the representation of the legend  While sculptures of dragons and knights are common in other buildings Casa Batlló takes a more symbolic and abstract approach The legend of Sant Jordi is encrypted throughout the building Gaudí’s greatness lies in the fact that he left doors open to the imagination Many have interpreted the legend of Sant Jordi and the dragon in Casa Batlló both on the facade and inside the building The interior references the dragon’s belly and tail while the facade features bones and skulls of the dragon’s victims The interpretation of these elements may vary but it is clear that the roof of Casa Batlló is designed to resemble a dragon  Gaudí was particularly fascinated by the dragon incorporating it into works such as the Bellesguard Tower and the Botines House The theme of battling an impossible enemy can be interpreted in various ways including from political and cultural perspectives making it an ideal topic for the Reinaxença movement Do we have proof of the representation of this legend in Casa Batlló but neither do we have any evidence to the contrary Legends belong to everyone and can be interpreted in various ways on the facade of the neighboring Casa Amatller we can see two images of Sant Jordi with the dragon It brings us back to roots that go back centuries It also gives us a concept of identity that is very much our own: instead of consuming “Dragon Ball” comics we consume something local Sant Jordi is the romantic and symbolic part of this day When did you discover the one in Casa Batlló I passed in front of Casa Batlló with my father and pointed to the house’s roof After an investment of around 12 million euros the new Gabriel García Márquez library in Sant Martí will be inaugurated in May It will be the third largest in Barcelona with a surface area of 3,300 square meters The usable archive area is 135 square meters and will generate about 15 jobs The library began construction in 2019 and the initial construction plan has been adjusted with the inclusion of new sections Its main facade faces the streets of Concili de Trento and Treball The rear of the library borders the parcel of the exempt National Police building The area of direct influence is the neighborhoods of Sant Martí and La Verneda i la Pau which have a population of approximately 55,000 inhabitants The library will specialize in Latin American literature and will have 40,000 documents in its archives 30 Internet access points and around 140 reading points as well as exclusive rooms for group activities It is named after Gabriel García Márquez in honor of the Colombian writer who won the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1982 García Márquez is one of the most outstanding authors of the 20th century thanks to his work One Hundred Years of Solitude It has been translated into 49 languages and has achieved sales of approximately 30 million copies The library also has works by classic and recent Latin American poets, storytellers and playwrights Stock images by Depositphotos La venta de la nuda propiedad Copyright © 2022 Salirporbarcelona , All rights Reserved. Created by JEZZ Media Can Framis was just another Poblenou factory at the end of the 18th century In 2009 it was converted into a museum of contemporary painting The collection is the point of convergence where the plural vision of the collector Antoni Vila Casas meets contemporary art The pieces embrace different ideologies and creative languages The walls of Can Framis hold some 300 works from artists born or resident in Catalonia from the 1960s to today Only the photography collection is within an international framework Temporary exhibitions are held in the Espai A0 Wondering about the best neighborhoods in Barcelona The answer is simple: it depends on your lifestyle By Megan Janicke When looking for a place to live in Barcelona you’ll have your list of priorities: cheap rent Your choice of the city’s neighborhoods depends on your lifestyle and the inconveniences you are willing to put up with Here’s where to find your dream home: Make your move to Spain seamless with BCN Life This team of American relocation experts can help you start your dream life in Spain with services including real estate purchases and rentals Get in touch with BCN Life for a stress-free move to Spain Constant renewal in most of Barcelona’s neighborhoods in the last 150 years has produced a real mix of accommodation from 18th-century townhouses to newly built apartments and gentrification projects boosted demand and prices in the city’s most central and attractive neighborhoods Local councils have attempted to pressure the government for rent controls to stop pricing out locals. Average rental prices in Barcelona reportedly rose almost 66% over just five years, from around €900 per month in 2012 up to some €1,500 in 2017. Barcelona had the highest rental increases in all of Spain, significantly ahead of Mallorca (40%) and Madrid (20%) While rental controls are not yet in place Barcelona has begun closer restriction on tourism rentals; this has led to two house-sharing platforms being fined €600,000 for listing illegal rentals as well as a temporary cap on the number of new rental licenses issued All of this means that places to live in Barcelona are in high demand and pricey the best neighborhoods in Barcelona may come down to budget Most accommodations are apartments; you’ll have to look for a place to live outside Barcelona if you’d like a private garden Whether you’re looking for a property to buy or rent, real estate agents and other professionals can help you find somewhere to live. If you need guidance with the process, experts such as those at BCN Life can assist you. Our tour begins with the city center, also known as Ciutat Vella. Housing costs for a small, one-bedroom apartments in this area average around €1,000, with two-bedroom apartments averaging from €1,300–2,500. However, nightlife, museums and restaurants abound. The large Parc de la Ciutadella is popular with runners, skateboarders and kids, and there’s easy access to the beach. All the great history of Barcelona is right here, complete with Roman ruins glassed off in the middle of markets, banks, parks, or just incorporated into the stone of newer (though still old) buildings. Its’ winding, ancient streets are perfect to get lost in and lined with charming bakeries and cafes; this is where the tourists go to get lost in the European experience. Most expats live here first, electing to move outside the city center after a year or two to get away from the noise of too-close neighbors, nonstop construction, throngs of tourists, and sometimes unpleasant smells of city living. Still, it remains charming and exceptionally convenient, and if you can score a decent terrace, you may choose to stay. Also known as The Born to Barcelona’s expats, El Borne is adjacent to Barrio Gotico and practically its twin neighborhood. This is everyone’s second-favorite barrio because of its top restaurants, fashion bargains, fantastic bars, and indie atmosphere. Still part of the ancient city, many expats call this place home as it has generally larger, renovated flats, charming open spaces, and lacks the dirtiness of other city center barrios. An old fishing village on the beach, Barceloneta features homes that are simple as can be with very few balconies to be seen. Plenty of expats and immigrants live in the tiny, simple flats, and the communal community plazas are generally respected. If you live on a ground floor, for example, and hang your laundry on the sidewalk to dry, people respect your property. It does have a higher petty crime area, but it’s still safe; there are nearly no violent crimes in all of Barcelona. Barceloneta is great for singles who want to be near the beach, and this area is always buzzing with tourists. A seedy but safe barrio in the shadow of Montjuïc, Raval is packed with South Asian immigrants, which consequently makes it the best place in Barcelona to find delicious Middle Eastern food. Musicians love Raval, as it is jampacked with tiny bars and music venues. Because of their small size, they make it seem as though you’ve discovered a new treasure when you wander in off the street. This Barcelona neighborhood has years of history with gangs, drugs, and prostitution. Within the last decade or so, Raval has cleaned itself up – however, it’s still not an area that tourists frequent. This neighborhood is called the Expansion of Barcelona, known more commonly to the locals as L’Eixample in Catalan. It is a massive suburb that expanded the city in the 1890s, connecting the Gotic area to the nearby pueblo of Gràcia. Housing averages €1,000–2,000 per month, often higher for attractive two-bedroom apartments. Numerous bus and metro lines cross the area, and cycling is also popular. While traffic flows relatively smoothly, parking can be tricky; few buildings have dedicated parking spots. Small shops are integrated in the residential streets, with bigger stores on the larger boulevards. The green spaces and public transportation are a bonus, making it easy to get outside. The main street (Calle Verdi) hosts a version original cinema and the surrounding streets are full of quirky boutiques, natural bakeries, cool cafes in beautiful plazas, great bars, cultural and independent events, boutiques and chain stores, and diverse restaurants. Park Guell provides a welcome green space. The only drawback is its distance from Barcelona’s beaches, but the place is so charming you most likely won’t care. In any case, you can ride a bike to the beach from the neighborhood. Rent is between €900–1,500 per month for two bedrooms, typically upward for larger and well-refurbished apartments. Bus and metro routes connect to the center. Cycling is possible, but the area is hilly, and there’s easy access to the motorway for cars. Public parking is limited. Butting up against Montjuïc and partially up the mountain is the barrio of Poble Sec, Raval’s next-door neighbor. This is a well-connected area thanks to the metro and car-friendly roads, and the area is great for jogging, museum visiting, events, and outdoor activities. There are now quite a few decent restaurants to be found, particularly the pincho joints in Carrer Blai and in the adjacent hipster area of San Antoni. It’s a quieter neighborhood than most city center barrios in Barcelona, with lots of green spaces. A scenic upmarket residential area, Les Corts has an astonishing choice of international schools. The nearby financial district, which offers the Fira Convention Centre in Plaça Espanya, makes commuting easy for many parents. Les Corts is home to Barcelona Football Club’s main stadium and features easy access to the hills and countryside at the edge of the city. There are some large shopping centers, including L’Illa, and smaller shopping malls, plus some exclusive boutique and designer stores. It is primarily residential with a mix of apartment blocks, townhouses, and houses with gardens. Rent is typically €1,000–2,000 per month for apartments, and upward of €2,500 for larger properties and attractive locations. There are extensive bus and metro routes. Cycling and walking are also popular, as is driving since dedicated parking is more common than in other areas. Housing costs €1,000–2,000 for a two-bedroom apartment; there’s also a good stock of large apartments for families with prices starting at €2,500 and upward. Metro and bus routes connect to the center, and cycling is also popular. Drivers can find easy access to the motorway from many areas. Some properties have dedicated parking. Poble Nou has easy access to the Collserola nature area, and there are many small bars and local restaurants tucked away in the neighborhood. Each of the shopping streets acts as a hub for locals, often boasting a good library and community or religious center. Housing costs are still low, averaging €700–1,000 for two-bedroom apartments. Bus and metro links provide access to the city center and cars have easy access to the motorway. Parking is sparse, particularly in pre-1950s estates. Housing costs €1,500–2,000 per month, although apartments tend to be large with several bedrooms; in some areas it’s possible to find smaller apartments around €800–1,200. Metro and bus lines cross the area and cycling and walking on the beach is popular. Modern blocks are more likely to have dedicated parking, but traffic is often congested. Probably the greenest district in Barcelona, Horta-Guinardó stretches from the center to the Collserola nature reserve. Streets are mostly quiet and residential, though some are so steep that escalators have been installed. The neighborhood’s inhabitants come from all over Spain and even around the world. You’ll find numerous parks and gardens and plenty of small independent shops with supermarkets and larger stores clustered in the former village centers. There’s a large stock of two-bedroom apartments around €600–900, although apartments are typically fewer than 80 square meters; larger, nicer apartments start around €1,250 and upwards. Cycling is not easy, as the area is very hilly. Metro and bus lines provide links to the center. Cars have easy access to the motorway, but streets are narrow, often congested, and there is little parking. Absorbed by Barcelona in the 20th century, this former town retains much of its community and independent spirit. The historic center still stands, with its beautiful old buildings and small-town atmosphere. If you’re looking for more space, it’s easier to find a house with a garden here than in some other districts. Cultural events occur regularly and there are many local restaurants. Nus de la Trinitat and walks along the river provide a pleasant outdoor escape. There is excellent shopping in the old town and the La Maquinista shopping centre. While some areas are luxurious, others were cheap housing a century ago and remain a little rough. Housing costs from €700–1,000 per month for a small, two-bedroom apartment, and upward of €1,250 for nicer and larger properties. Bus and metro routes connect to the center. Cycling is also popular, but car parking is sparse. The outskirts of Barcelona offers cities such as Sitges, a favorite former fishing-village-turned-beach-town for retired gay couples and British families. It became a trendy place to live when the Catalan bourgeoisie began building their summer homes in Sitges in the 19th century, and now boasts a great nightlife. Back on the other side of Barcelona are Besos and further north, Badalona. This is where the Andalusian-Galician Spaniard immigrated in the 1960s and 70s: now it’s a mix of Latin American, Pakistani, Chinese and Eastern European immigrants living alongside the aging children of the Southern Spanish immigrants. You likely won’t be looking to live beyond the metropolitan area, unless you want some land for animals or agriculture, or are looking for a quiet rural life, which is, for most expats, not the reason to move to Barcelona – though the quaint countryside may be where you end up years after living in Barcelona. Megan is a writer, entrepreneur, and adventurer. In 2014, she took off on a world bicycle trip, pedaled through the Netherlands, fell in love, and never went home. These days, she’s a freelance writer specializing in B2B content for tech and tourism companies. Find out whether you need private health insurance in Spain in 2025, with insider info on costs, coverage, and medical professionals. Want to send your child(ren) to an international school in Spain? Find out everything you need to know about fees, exams, and more. Single and ready to mingle? Learn how to find love on Spain's dating scene, where casual meet-ups can spark genuine romantic connections. snapped by her then-lover Helmut Newton in 1975—dressed as a Halston bunny on a Manhattan terrace her long legs give the skyscrapers a run for their money—is about as “New York” as it gets But the places where Peretti felt truly in her element lay far beyond the Big Apple rehabilitating the 17th-century village of Sant Martí Vell But then there were her Italian outposts—after all being born in Florence in 1940 to an aristocratic mother and an oil magnate Peretti was Italian through and through which was split between two homes: one terrace-wrapped penthouse apartment hovering over the city of Rome and overlooking the gardens of the Villa Borghese; another overlooking the Tyrrhenian Sea in Porto Ercole Photo: Estelle HananiaPhoto: Estelle HananiaPhoto: Estelle HananiaPhoto: Estelle HananiaBoth properties were brought to life with the help of the visionary Italian architect and interior designer Lorenzo ‘Renzo’ Mongiardino The two met in the early 1980s when Peretti needed to entrust someone with a complete renovation of her family’s apartment Photo: Estelle HananiaPhoto: Estelle Hanania“I called him thinking he would never accept,” Peretti said of their first project together it was only a flat and he was used to very important projects I guess more because we liked each other instinctively from the very beginning I always told him I thought he did that house only to do me a favor.” Mongiardino (who was given carte blanche by Peretti) unleashed all the possibilities of Italian craftsmanship into the space intricately carved walnut doors were commissioned; antique marble tables were inlaid with semi-precious stones to add beauteous bulk to the rooms; wicker furnishings were added for contrast (and also as a wink to the terrace living the penthouse afforded) the two sourced antique furniture to fill the space—in the living room all centered around an imposing black marble fireplace Photo: Estelle HananiaPhoto: Estelle HananiaPhoto: Estelle HananiaPhoto: Estelle HananiaUnderfoot a waxed tiled floor of alternating pink cotto and slate tiles added visual interest: rhythmic geometric patterns are a signature of Mongiardino “He once told me that the floor was to a room what the shoes are to the overall elegance of a man,” Peretti once said you’ll find a collection of Peretti’s curiosities as well as the flora and fauna she so often turned to for inspiration where her father took his languorous breakfasts Photo: Estelle HananiaNot long after the two completed the Roman project did begin yet another Mongiardino was called upon for the interiors and Loup de Viane worked to craft a garden that could withstand high winds and extreme conditions of the location Perovskia (Russian sage) was added to the native maquis shrubland a plant introduced to Peretti by Salvador Dalí after which she always planted them in her gardens Photo: Estelle HananiaPhoto: Estelle HananiaPhoto: Estelle HananiaThe 16th-century stone watch tower stands on a cliff that juts down steeply towards the Tyrrhenian Sea and stands like a relic of another time—but its unrefined beauty attracted Peretti “I think at the beginning his [Mongiardino’s] idea was to decorate it in a very monastic style adding just a few pieces of furniture,” Peretti is quoted as saying in the Apartamento book’s introduction “But that was probably too predictable and he came up with the most impressive decorative idea: turning the walls of those rooms into ruins created through the artifice of trompe l’oeil.” Photo: Estelle HananiaPhoto: Estelle HananiaDecorated in sepia hues the space is warm and inviting with no corner left untouched by Mongiardino Walls become murals depicting the kind of garden views that the mostly windowless structure cannot provide most of these murals have not withstood water damage endured by the tower And while the rustic charm of the tower may feel a world away from Peretti’s glamorous life in New York an article published by Christopher Petkanas in W magazine Peretti explains she bought the Porto Ercole property as a revenge for having all those buildings crushing me.” Photo: Estelle HananiaPhoto: Estelle HananiaPhoto: Estelle HananiaPhoto: Estelle HananiaPhoto: Estelle HananiaMore Great Living Stories From VogueThe Danish Home Lighting Trend That Can Improve Your Mental Health In America’s Cities, Saunas Are Becoming the Hottest Social Spot Millie Bobby Brown Shares Her Favorite Paella Recipe—and Details About Her Wedding to Jake Bongiovi A Day-by-Day Guide to Hiking the Legendary Nakasendo Trail in Japan Never miss a Vogue moment and get unlimited digital access for just $2 $1 per month Police say suspect who fired shots injuring two is still at large  ACN | Barcelona First published: January 16, 2022 05:15 PM The Catalan police – the Mossos d'Esquadra – have arrested a man on Sunday in connection with a shooting in which two people were injured in the Sant Martí area of Barcelona on Saturday. According to police sources, the man detained is not thought to be the perpetrator who fired the shots in Saturday's attack, but is allegedly related to the incident. The search for the main suspect is ongoing. On Saturday police raided a flat where they believed the suspect was hiding but found nobody present. They had cordoned off an area between Carrer Maresme and Carrer Pere IV after a tip-off, but the supposed hideout was empty. The two people who were shot and wounded in the attack were taken to hospital, but their injuries are not life-threatening. Authorities suspect that the shooting could be related to marijuana trafficking. Interior minister Joan Ignasi Elena told RAC1 radio Monday that police discovered a cannabis farm in the flat raided on Sunday and are therefore working on this hypothesis. Elena expressed concern over the rise in marijuana-related crime, adding it goes beyond trafficking, also involving illegal work, robbery and inter-group violence. v1.1.0. Copyright © 2025. Powered by EBANTIC. All rights reserved. Jean Nouvel and Barcelona are getting on well. The French architect’s second major landmark for the city, a park in the Sant Martí district, has just opened. The Parc Central del Poblenou occupies five and a half hectares in an area that the citywide rejuvenation plans have yet to reach. Its office buildings and industrial sites contrast starkly with the sparkling modern architecture overlooking the city’s harbour area, and Gaudí is nowhere to be seen. “We wanted the park to form a link to the traditional Barcelona,” says chief project architect Andreas Soufa. “This district had a lot of new buildings but no history, no identity. Visitors should be able to make their own stories here,” Pritzker Prize-winning firm Jean Nouvel Atelier, whose Torre Agbar can be seen in the distance, won the commission after proposing a shady, verdant landscape surrounded by a concrete wall to isolate visitors from the bustling city. “At the intersection of three roads this area should be very noisy. Now inside the park, it is very peaceful,” says Soufa. Although it was opened to the public in April, the park is far from finished. The vegetation that will give the space its form and shape is yet to grow. According to Soufa, it might take another five years before the vision is fully realised: “Yes, the plants need to grow. It will give us a chance to get used to them and work out how to look after them properly. Unlike the parks of Paris and London, this one won’t need much attention. We wanted to capture the wild sense of a forest.” As a counterpoint to the park’s lush future dimensions, Nouvel has interwoven a number of steel sculptural elements. The gated entrance looks as if it has been ravaged by rust or bullets, but up close the small square holes are arranged to look like screen pixels. The benches and metal furniture have a space-age feel, while a gravel surface and rock-strewn border accentuate the lunar element. top image A gyre of flowers forms a centrepiece of Nouvel’s park The park is at the intersection of three roads in the industrial area of the city. Torre Agbar can be seen in the distance Plants will eventually cover the bare structures The entrance gates are peppered with pixellated holes is a day of celebration for books and roses The streets are covered in red flowers and full of people buying books for their loved ones Barcelona will have a record-breaking 435 stands selling books and roses making a total of 3,356 meters of space reserved for this joyous day.  Many bookshops and libraries will host book signings and activities during Sant Jordi to celebrate love and literature but much of the activity will take place on the streets of Barcelona.  Here is what to do and where to buy books and roses during Sant Jordi day in different districts of Barcelona, and also across Catalonia where thousands will enjoy the day.  In Ciutat Vella, La Rambla boulevard will be restored completely for the first time since the pandemic The more than one-kilometer-long boulevard will be filled with stands selling books alongside the usual rose sellers.  the walkway in front of the Arc de Triomf monument There will be a specific space reserved for comics The Eixample district will have the highest number of stands in all of Barcelona Most of them are located on Passeig de Gràcia boulevard known for its beautiful monuments such as Casa Battló by Catalan modernist architect Antoni Gaudí.  Plaça Universitat square and Passeig de Sant Joan walkway will be both reserved for stands selling comics and children's and youth literature.  The Sagrada Família, Barcelona's iconic basilica designed by Antoni Gaudí, will celebrate Sant Jordi with a digital art projection created by AI. 'Rosa, Rosae' will be displayed on a giant screen inside the basilica. The Sagrada Familia is also giving away 9 double tickets for a night tour of the basilica on the eve of Sant Jordi.  The Gràcia district is known for having the highest number of bookshops per inhabitant. Besides those bookshops there will be 26 stands, five of them for roses on the part of the Passeig de Gràcia boulevard that is located in this area.  There will also be a circus show for families to enjoy on the Plaça de Laguna Lanao square, and a gathering of illustrators on the Plaça de Nicolas Salmeron square.  This district will have nine bookstands in an effort to decentralize the celebrations and bring people towards more traditional places with local initiatives.  There will be many activities by local organizations and shops in the area of La Diagonal Avenue.  In the Poblenou area of Sant Martí there will be eight book stands on the Rambla del Poblenou boulevard, along with the already existing bookshops.  This year there will be three book stands and two rose vendors in front of the García Márquez library to celebrate the library having won the 'Best New Library in the World' award. The library will also be hosting activities.  Plaça d'Orfila square is an epicenter for the inhabitants of the Sant Andreu and will be occupied on Sant Jordi by five book stands and one rose vendor. Authors will be signing their books at the book stands and at the district's library. There will be different literary activities organized throughout the district.  A number of municipalities engaged in greening trajectories have created new inequities or even exacerbated old ones How can the unwanted and unequal impacts of green planning be addressed one of the green zones newly created in an urban and economic development area of post-Olympic Barcelona.Photo: Vicente Zambrano It is well known that green spaces contribute to improved physical health by encouraging active lifestyles and creating conditions that reduce disease associated with air pollution and noise Residents exposed to green space have also a lower likelihood of being in poor mental health and higher opportunities for building social connections and personal ties urban forests remove over 300 tons of air pollutants every year and prevent 5,000 tons of CO2 from being released into the atmosphere the public and private investors that promote the environmental socio-economic and health benefits of urban greening projects often hide the highly inequitable outcomes of these initiatives which often include gentrification and displacement of residents a number of municipalities engaged in greening trajectories have created new inequities or even exacerbated old ones In a recent article citing New York’s High Line a former elevated railroad transformed into a large urban areal park now visited by 5 million people each year as the most famous example of this phenomenon project director of Washington D.C.’s 11th Street Bridge Park expressed concerns early on over the social impacts of the new highway-bridge-cum-park Who are the real targets and beneficiaries of new or restored green amenities in cities As exemplified by the aforementioned High Line many new parks have ultimately catered to white and socially-privileged residents and tourists This green transformation has been followed by spikes in local property values and by the displacement of nearby businesses and working-class-residents property values near the High Line went up by 103% and  penthouses designed by Zaha Hadid’s studio currently go for $50 million greenways and ecological corridors have been promoted as motors of beautification We can think here of projects such as the Emerald Necklace in Boston or the Parc de la Ciutadella in Barcelona Yet we can observe a significant shift in green urban planning –from the original socially-oriented goals of the XIXth and early XXth century to community-oriented greening of the 1970s and 1980s aimed at reclaiming neighborhoods a development-oriented greening aimed at attracting high-end amenities that cater to service industries Recent research at the Barcelona Lab for Urban Environmental Justice and Sustainability(Laboratori de Barcelona sobre Justícia i Sostenibilitat Ambiental Urbana – BCNUEJ) has found evidence of this in various cities across the globe one study finds clear green gentrification trends in several historically underserved areas the percentage of residents holding a bachelor’s degree or higher increased by nearly 28% on average around a new local park versus only a 7.6% increase for the district as a whole over a period of 10 years Several parks in the Sant Martí and Ciutat Vella districts including the Poblenou and the Port Olímpic parks experienced strong environmental gentrification The Príncep de Girona Gardens in the southern area of the Horta-Guinardó district and the Diagonal Mar park in Sant Marti also experienced rather strong environmental gentrification There is here a clear relationship between new green space and attraction of higher-educated residents Such far-reaching dynamics raise questions when it comes to creating livable and civil society work to improve urban environmental quality for socially-vulnerable residents they are increasingly faced with the possible inequitable outcomes associated with greening projects The land revaluation and displacement that often results from greening has been defined as ‘green gentrification’ or ‘ecological gentrification,’ in which gentrification is characterized by the social erasure of residential practices as well as by real physical displacement sustainable mobility projects such as the Superilles (super-blocks) have already raised concerns over the mid- and long-term impacts of the new project on housing and commercial affordability although gentrification there is also fueled by the new market inauguration In sum: To what extent do different green planning interventions translate into a green space paradox in different cities and what are their implications for long-term marginalized urban residents I do not argue that planners intentionally target low-income neighborhoods and communities of color in order to profit developers and exclude vulnerable residents from the benefits of green projects Research points to the fact that planners are more likely to neglect the impacts of their plans on the exchange values of real estate and that they are often imprisoned in a logic of competitive urbanism and city rebranding even if they are becoming increasingly aware of the inequitable impacts of green planning the government of Ada Colau is well aware of possible negative impacts of gentrification of new livability interventions and is working in a cross-sectoral way to evaluate the scope gentrification might take and to create new tools and regulations to protect residents the answer does not lie in avoiding low-income neighborhoods or communities of color as places for urban greening projects Such decisions would further exclude historically marginalized groups from the benefits of greening and concentrate green or sustainability investment in richer neighborhoods The question and challenge thus becomes: How can cities craft regulations and partnerships –and at which levels– that can address the unwanted and unequal impacts of green planning Many believe that lasting solutions to address urban green inequities and green gentrification reside in changing the ownership of land in cities so that its speculative and market function gets taken out of the picture This means developing tools such as Community Land Trusts or Mutual Housing Associations which are increasingly relevant policy tools used to address gentrification Protecting and further developing social housing and public housing is also an obvious commitment needed to mitigate the risks of displacement increasingly associated with large scale urban greening projects such as greenways Zooming in on the greening projects themselves smaller-scale projects focused on the needs and multiple uses of local residents also have the potential to help ensure community ownership and stewardship –rather than appropriation by visitors and tourists and website in this browser for the next time I comment is subject to intense gentrification pressures in some of its most emblematic neighbourhoods with the help of leading specialists in urban issues we review the particularities of this phenomenon Neoliberal policies have transformed traditional urban spaces for socialising which have been taken over by mercantilism is in fact a process that is defined in terms of class and therefore of conflict To prevent residents being driven out of their neighbourhoods Barcelona must follow three courses of action: civilise the property market build up public housing stock with a well-balanced geographic distribution and turn to social co-production of mixed residential solutions of eight cities that are standing up to the phenomenon of gentrification Gentrified neighbourhoods are an object of desire for many tourists and the presence of tourism reinforces gentrification processes Far from being a seasonal phenomenon located in specific spaces tourism competes for resources with the other citizens leading to the displacement of the resident population Women in particular suffer the real-estate violence generated by gentrification Public regulation of the property market ought to incorporate gender as an indicator of vulnerability labour legislation should be changed to protect reproductive and care work Sant Antoni and the area around the Rambla del Poblenou are the most gentrified areas in Barcelona according to the results of a pioneering study that will help develop preventive policies There are laws guaranteeing access to housing as an essential right over any other right and that give the public administration ample means to intervene in its defence El barri de la Perona Publisher: Barcelona City Council and Marge Books Esteve Lucerón recovers the last few years of the gypsy Perona when the neighbourhood had been living amidst conflict and exclusion for quite some time and does so without prejudices and in a natural manner It seems strange to evoke a neighbourhood that disappeared due to embarrassment Not a neighbourhood that has transformed itself to such an extent that it is no longer and will never be as it once was but one which has been eliminated from the very root to give way to a sleeker more anonymous and indifferent urban aspect Transformations are what regulate urban life and a city changes so much faster than a human heart but it tends to retain some part of the heart and the insides that have made it what it is We talk of an urban life that doesn’t exist no passers-by or neighbours; a life without people year in which the huts still standing in Barcelona were finally demolished leading to the visible step taken towards the Olympic event and the new city which has since then emerged Before the Olympic Village and the urban opening onto the sea the first images that announced the change that was coming were photographs of the Mayor Pasqual Maragall at these public sites during the demolition of La Perona huts The destruction cleaned and cleared the path La Perona neighbourhood no longer existed as of then the inhabitants of which were relocated alike those of La Perona when the huts and camp sites that had been erected along the seaside were removed on the occasion of Franco’s visit in 1966 in the private images of those who lived there And especially in the photographs taken by Esteve Lucerón now compiled into the book for which these lines have been written With the disappearance of this neighbourhood the inhabitants were relocated to the homes provided by the City Council to eradicate the huts they had built themselves Barcelona 1980- 1990 comprises a worthy selection of photographs which Lucerón has released to the Photographic Archive of Barcelona and are accompanied by very experienced texts by Àngel Marzo A photographer trained in the highly active dynamics of the International Photographic Centre of Barcelona who decided to document the lives of the gypsies living in La Perona and that is what he has done immersing himself in the neighbourhood as an occupational workshop teacher and a writer who was a teacher at the Adult School of La Perona Located along the length of the Sant Martí district where we now find the park and part of the Sagrera railway tracks La Perona received its name not thanks to the sweet nun as was thought for years but due to the visit by Eva Duarte de Perón This site had already been chosen by the peninsular migrants of the post-war period His photographs recover that life with great naturalness following along the line of the strength arising from experiences sustained by each family –“which is a tree” in Marzo’s words– and by children that grow up accompanied by the caring eyes of their grandmothers who represent “the connection with the line of a time that doesn’t end” In the park that ends the photographic collection there are several neighbours and also the migrants who once again make a living from scrap iron in Sant Martí and Poblenou now arriving from the diaspora of global poverty () Tres llibres inauguren la col·lecció “Biblioteca Secreta” tres volums que recuperen personatges necessaris de la Barcelona més underground Joan Vinuesa narra el seu viatge a l’Índia i Xavi Cot explica què va ser el Cuc Sonat The book Vázquez Montalbán published in 1987 and which has now been republished in Spanish and translated into Catalan and English would be the ideal book because at the same time as you read it you can tour it as though it were a city Comanegra is celebrating the two-hundredth anniversary of Mary Shelley’s novel with seven new titles in which the monster is present and which are set against great moments in the life of the city Somorrostro was inhabited by a working population that was all too often looked upon as marginalised people who did nothing to escape their condition The book by Pujol Cruells is neither pleasing nor insulting he draws an image of the people of Barcelona based on a meticulous observation of their customs Fabre is one the journalists who best knows his city He wrote a splendid doctoral thesis on 1939 Barcelona and played a decisive role in safeguarding the memory of his guild returns to the post-war world of journalism Harry Crews said that talent wasn’t a bad thing in literature He speaks of parents and children and grandmothers of the bourgeoisie or of ‘the bottom of the middle class’ When he gets stuck into his neighbourhood and background non-fiction not only fills the pages of well-known writers like Capote but also the illustrated pages of graphic novels which have allowed the rigorous and socially committed binomium between journalism and comics Un regalo para Kushbu is the closest example we have in time and space of this hybridisation of genres Barcelona launches three new solutions to create shade in public spaces This is how the Barcelona City Council will test three “innovative systems” They create shade in a public space located in the Plaça Comercial in Ciutat Vella in Sant Martí and in Sants Montjuïc on the Rambla del Badal The initiatives provide greater comfort to visitors and citizens during the summer months contributing to a healthier and more sustainable context It is a great effort by Barcelona to combat the heat and improve public spaces That is why the City Council has announced innovative solutions to provide shade in different areas of the city These are the systems of the three winning prototypes of the urban innovation challenge Generació d’ombratge efímer a l’espai públic that was launched in June 2023 by the Oficina de Canvi Climàtic and the Fundació BIT Habitat says the City Council yesterday in a statement Its aim is to create new and innovative proposals and solutions that are not on the market and that will constitute in the future new products that contribute to urban resilience Collboni launches its strategy in order to gain urban green areas in the city the objective is to generate solutions to create seasonal shadows with a temporary modular and sustainable character in spaces where vegetation cannot be planted This call has involved an investment of 300,000 euros to finance 80% of the total budget of the projects It is located in the coastal area of the Sant Martí neighborhood It is located between the Diagonal Mar neighborhood and the Mediterranean It is easy to reach via Avenida Diagonal and close to the Port of Barcelona Among its features are its versatility and capacity to host a wide variety of events ranging from concerts and music festivals to conferences it has green and recreational spaces with areas for rest and recreation as well as a promenade that provides panoramic views of the coastline The urban umbrellas in the Parc de la Ciutat Vella are characterized by the large size of the umbrellas that are strategically distributed in the areas of great affluence Their mobile structures allow relocation according to the needs of the park in line with the city’s environmental commitment In addition to its integrated LED lighting for its usefulness during nighttime hours Among the solutions to create shade and its characteristics are pergolas covered with climbing vegetation that provide natural shade It also has an automatic irrigation system that ensures the maintenance of the plants Its spaces are designed to promote urban biodiversity and improve air quality These areas and benches are integrated for the enjoyment of pedestrians One of these three systems uses the greenhouse structure that generates openings in order to generate openings to provide better air circulation and not generate other panels hot air pockets and prefabricated wooden pillars and other hybrid fabrics such as steel connectors and cables that have their own support structure that allows it to function as a bench are three innovative prototypes that respond to the adaptation to the climate emergency ensures that this program of shadows is “one of the priorities of the roadmap to deploy the climate urbanism under the Climate Plan Implementing these three innovative solutions that allow solutions to create shade in public spaces in Barcelona It is a significant representation that goes towards the improvement and quality of urban life By installing automatic awnings in the Plaça Comercial in Ciutat Vella in the Parc del Fòrum in Sant Martí and in Sants Montjuïc on the Rambla del Badal it not only effectively addresses the challenges of heat It also promotes the well-being of the inhabitants and sustainability The Barcelona City Council is preparing the remodeling of the Sant Martí promenade the coastline between the Mar Bella and the Forum to turn it into a linear park open to the sea and as a climate refuge area The objective is to turn this promenade into a park where the green environment and comfort are promoted through naturalization This is the first activity of the City Council This will speed up the completion of the waterfront redevelopment so that there will be no cars in the area The future park will be a space considered a climatic refuge in order to provide thermal comfort in extreme heat episodes It will have a large amount of vegetation that generates shady spots The area will also feature multifunctional street furniture elements such as photovoltaic pergolas to generate clean energy or ephemeral or seasonal textile elements The project will also seek to open up all the sports practices that take place on the coast The park will become a “great sports space” for the city that will allow for some 40 different sports practices over its five-kilometer length The project will be viable and sustainable Its design will seek quality and innovation It also hopes to “deseasonalize” the presence of people on the coast by seeking to make the area usable all year round the Poblenou restaurant L’Artesana is small and simple The menu is not very extensive during the day but offers enough options in conjunction with the daily specials to keep you satisfied They are truly original and some of the best incorporating some originality of your own to your meal the hake with carrot and parsnips was is not a bad choice and is offered as the fish of the day at times if you order the potato salad with sausage you’ll be disappointed as it is just a spin on the traditional German salad the pears with pickles and yogurt was a refreshing end to the meal The best part of L’Artesana is how they treat their products: with respect Although they care about their food and respect the quality of its content the restaurant itself is not worth a visit to the Poblenou restaurant itself we suggest stopping by after a day of activities in the area the 20th Sant Marti International Chess Open Gadir Guseinov from Azerbaijan clinched the title with a score of 7.5/9 This was his second straight title in the Catalan circuit after the Barbera Open and nobody seems to be in a place to challenge his dominance in the circuit as of now 19-year-old Peruvian GM Alcantara Martinez took second place with a score of 7.0/9 IM Luiz Lazaro from Cuba had scored the same as Martinez but was placed third due to an inferior tiebreak In the fourth place was India's Mitrabha Guha who scored 6.5 points and also made his maiden Grandmaster norm Nilesh Saha scored an International Master norm and the Indian contingent kept up their stronghold in Spain P Iniyan and Soham Das also finished with a score of 6.0/9 but as per tiebreaks they were placed 17th The event had attracted 118 players from 24 countries among whom 49 were titled Jordi Magem spoke to ChessBase India at the conclusion of the event. Having been the coach of the creative genius Alexei Shirov at one point Jordi is currently the captain of the Spanish Olympic team. In the interview the participation of Indians and his own visit to India during the FIDE world cup We have launched the ChessBase India App. Check out this amazing resource! Android for now - Download the app now Follow Tweets by @ChessbaseIndia ChessBase India is proud to be the official partner of chessbase.com reporting on events in India Like our Facebook page for more Indian chess updates The all new 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Subscribe now and stay update with our awesome video content.  at the time that the Gràcia bar became the epicentre of the Catalan music scene They're also behind the name change to VOL in 2018 squatting at the side of Plaça de les Glòries has housed the collections from the former museums of clothing decorative arts and ceramics since it opened in December 2013 The Textile and Clothing Museum collection provides a chronological tour of fashion from a man’s Coptic tunic from a seventh century tomb through to Karl Lagerfeld’s creations such as an 18th-century bridal gown in black figured silk and the world’s largest collection of kidskin gloves but the real highlight is the fashion collection.The Museum of Decorative Arts’ collection is informative and fun and looks at the different styles informing the design of artefacts in Europe since the Middle Ages A second section is devoted to postwar Catalan design of objects as diverse as urinals and man-sized inflatable pens The collections from the erstwhile Ceramics Museum are equally fascinating showing how 13th century Moorish ceramic techniques were developed after the Reconquista with the addition of colours (especially blue and yellow) in centres such as Manises There is also a section on 20th-century ceramics a striking blue triangular construction by architects Herzog and de Meuron (responsible for London's Tate Modern) is the centrepiece of the €3 billion redevelopment The remainder of the money was spent on the solar panels an island 60 metres (197 feet) from the shore The surrounding Parc del Fòrum is used for international conferences travelling circuses (such as the Cirque de Soleil) including Primavera Sound and the Cruïlla music festivals There are some people who can recite from memory all the Barça line-ups since the year the football club was founded and others who have memorised every train station from Mollerussa to Grenoble They have the same selective memory at La Cervecita host pairings and focus particularly on Catalan beers Joliu is a word related to joy and happiness and it's also the name of a bulb plant related to the hyacinth that blooms from April to June in the Pyrenees And it's the name Lucía López chose to baptize her space illustration and design that's also a gallery and café (they serve Nomad Coffee concoctions Lucía has reserved a place for local artists: you'll find illustrations by Hermano Gato and ceramics by artists such as Irina Yudina The flowery Pompilio plants and Bas pots complete the ambience of a space that seduces instantly Also known as the Conjunt Monumental de la Roca this complex of buildings includes the Romanesque church of Santa Maria which houses a number of archeological and ethnographical collections that include an Iberian funerary monument (third to second century BC); a woman’s head in stone (first century BC) known as the Venus of Pendedès; Roman tombstones; and a 15th-century Moorish soup bowl from Manisses decorated both on the inside and outside and discovered during the restoration of the church Christmas is very close and the atmosphere is becoming more and more conducive to make different plans in the city One of them is “el trenet de Nadal” an initiative organized by the commercial centers of the neighborhoods to enjoy the Christmas illumination in a different way You will be able to tour the city in one of the five trains that are already confirmed although they may increase as the holidays approach Tickets are available at any of the neighborhood stores that are partners in the initiative but you will be able to get it by making a minimum purchase of 0.50 euros The goal is that you can walk through the most Christmas streets of Barcelona and enjoy the best lighting The residents of Fort Pienc will only be able to travel on it on two days: December 22 and 23 from 11:00 to 14:00 hours and from 17:00 to 20:00 hours at the initial stop at Carrer d’Alí Bei In Sant Martí de Provençals the initial stop will be in Cantàbria street with Huelva The trenet will be in operation from December 22 to January 4 2023 between 11:00 am and 2:00 pm and from 5:00 pm to 9:00 pm Regarding the Sagrada Familia neighborhood the train will be available between December 22 and January 5 from 10:30 am to 2:00 pm and from 5:00 pm to 8:30 pm it will not offer the service during the holidays of December 25 and 26 and January 1 you will only have to do some shopping for 5 euros in the neighborhood stores Children under 10 years of age do not pay admission In this neighborhood the initial stop will be at Passeig de Fabra i Puig and Carrer de Neopàtria It will be in service from December 22 to January 4 from 11:00 am to 2:00 pm and from 4:30 pm to 8:00 pm the train can be taken in Sarrià square from December 27 to January 4 Service hours will be from 10:30 am to 2:00 pm and from 4:30 pm to 8:00 pm The cost of the general admission will be 1 euro and for children under 12 years of age 0.50 euros The tour is a great family plan for this New Year’s Eve in the midst of lights and color the arrival of summer brings with it one of the most popular and awaited festivities in Barcelona: the Sant Joan festival the beaches will be filled with people eager to welcome the warmest season of the year not only the coasts will witness the celebration as each neighborhood of the city has prepared its own festivities All in order to enjoy the shortest night of the year under a starry sky full of light as Barcelona offers alternatives such as workshops activities and other ways to join this tradition you can’t forget to prepare or buy the delicious “cocas de Sant Joan” to round off the party joy and party on the occasion of the night of San Juan fire will be the undisputed protagonist of this festival in 2023 These will be some of the bonfires and verbenas confirmed in several different parts of the city: between Entença and Floridablanca streets) Bonfire in Provença (Provença street with Rocafort street) Verbena and bonfire in Fort Pienc (Lepant street with Ausiàs March street) Verbena of the Casal Independentista la Cruïlla (Sardenya street with Consell de Cent street) Verbena and bonfire in Sant Antoni (Viladomat street with Floridablanca street) Bonfire at Porta de Sarrià (Passeig de la Bonanova the celebration will begin with an itinerary from the Centre Cívic Casa Orlandai and Via Augusta to La Llosa Bonfire in the Clot (Concili de Trento street with Lope de Vega street) Verbena and bonfire in Clot and Camp de l’Arpa (Meridiana Avenue between Aragó Street and Consell de Cent Street) There will be a popular dinner and a bar with drinks; afterwards the bonfire will be lit and there will be a concert with The Parsimonians and DJ the itinerary will start at Can Saladrigas and the bonfire will be lit at 10 pm During the Industrial Revolution Poblenou became an industrial hub "Gradually, local factories and plants became empty and started being used for other purposes, as depots or studios for example. In this phase of decline, the neighbourhood entered a period of urban degradation. The fact of having being designated as industrial soil impeded the development of the necessary urban infrastructure, such as housing units, schools, hospitals, green areas. The population started declining and Poblenou became a peripheral neighbourhood", he concludes. The 1992 Olympic Games triggered Poblenou's rebirth The neighbourhood's revitalisation continues with the 22@ Plan On the same note, Luna thinks that "eventually Poblenou will become the most appreciated area of the city. At the moment, the former inhabitants live with the changes: the very old ones finally leave, some that owned properties have sold them, making some money. There is not as much social conflict such as in other neighbourhoods like Raval or El Born". Social conflict in Barcelona's neighbourhoods is linked to a number of factors: the rising price housing units due to gentrification, immigration related-issues and, lately, problems deriving from the booming of the tourist industry such as night-time noise. According to Marta Laurent, founder of Foreverbarcelona.com and a private tour guide in the city since 2000, "Poblenou is still not very affected by the impact of tourism". According to Clarós, "in Poblenou, tourism is increasing and – especially in the area affected by the 22@ plan – new hotels have been built. However, because of the extension of the neighbourhood, the density of hotel beds is far inferior to that in other parts of the city such as Ciutat Vella". "Tourism landed here with the construction of big hotels, but I think now tourists are beginning to discover this part of the city, especially people interested in urban landscapes and culture", he adds. For Laurent from Foreverbarcelona.com, tourists should also have a look at: the famous cafeteria 'El Tio Che' where people can taste 'orxata' ('horchata' in Spanish), a traditional beverage made of earth almonds; Casino de l’Aliança, a theatre and traditional meeting place located in the heart of the neighbourhood's historical centre; Can Felipa, a leisure and sports centre that hosts many local associations inside an old factory; and, the Poblenou Cemetery. Local neighbours' associations strengthened with the beginning of the crisis According to Clarós, the Poblenou-based associations currently have three main objectives: impeding the densification of the area, maintaining its economic nature and preserving the industrial patrimony that represents the identity of the neighbourhood. Here, as in all of Barcelona, neighbourhood-based associations play a very important role, he stressed. Gràcia, San Andreu and Sarrià are some other interesting and little-known neighbourhoods This peculiar historical development allowed each of the city's neighbourhoods to preserve to the present day its own spirit and flavour. From elegant and posh Sarrià in the upper part of Barcelona, to lively Gràcia in the middle, up until San Andreu in the north of the city and Poblenou by the sea, every corner of the Catalan capital has a different and interesting story to tell to the short-term visitor willing to abandon the overcrowded routes of the tourist masses. The third event of the Catalan Circuit concluded in Sant Marti the Peruvian IM Fernando Fernandez won the title prize with a score of 8.0/9 he beat India's Himanshu Sharma and pushed the Haryanvi GM down to the sixth spot became India's latest WIM while many other upcoming Indian talents also made their mark at the event All of this happened amid the refreshing landscape of the Barcelonian mountains and a breathtaking sunset Here's another article full of all the action within and the splendour without let’s start with examining the performance of the emerging Indian women power many of India’s upcoming talents made the nation proud she is now India’s brand new Woman International Master not only fulfilled one of her dreams by completing all requirements for her WIM title but she also won the first place in the women’s section she won her final WIM norm while the first two came from the IIFL Mumbai Open and the Sharjah Chess Open earlier this year she won her last round game against a player as solid as IM P Iniyan Now let's show you the picturesque Spanish sunset Shyam Sundar wins XXV Montcada Open, Iniyan scores a GM norm Himanshu Sharma bags top prize at Barbera Del Valles Open Spanish diary part I - life in Spain Spanish diary part II - Montcada Open Spanish diary part III - Barbera Del Valles Open Spanish diary part IV - Sant Marti Open Subscribe to our newsletter to keep up to date with Barcelona Metròpolis' new developments The urbanisation project for the free spaces and public use of the Can Ricart industrial complex in Sant Martí has received its final approval The result will be an open space in the neighbourhood integrating its existing buildings with newly constructed ones strengthening its greenery and highlighting the complex’s architectural heritage and historical relics The new arrangement includes the space surrounding the warehouses in the old industrial complex and the new buildings with their facades in C/ Bilbao C/ Perú and the inner passage of C/ Emília Coranty Routes are being established for the exclusive use of pedestrians inside the complex through the historical and new-use buildings Several buildings in the Can Ricart complex are expected to be renovated with the some allocated to the University of Barcelona and others for municipal offices and uses Such uses will be complemented with the construction of a student residence and private flats in addition to the existing public housing development at the junction between C/ Bolívia and C/ Espronceda There will be up to 3,500 m2 of green spaces with over a hundred trees an ornamental fountain in the form of a naturalised pond bicycle parking places and bins will be installed a pneumatic waste-collection network and a drainage system harnessing rainwater The Can Ricart’s interior space will be paved with ceramic stone in several colours for distinguishing and recalling the parts of the warehouses pulled down years ago while the outside streets will have concrete-slab pavements Launched through the Municipal Institute of Urban Planning (IMU) the urbanisation work will have an implementation budget of 12.8 million euros and receive funding from the sector’s owners Work for the first stage is expected to be put out to tender in the autumn of 2023 so it can start in the spring of 2024 and finish by the start of 2025 The old Can Ricart factory is one of the most historically important industrial complexes conserved in Barcelona and Catalonia and is listed as a Cultural Asset of National Interest (BCIN) in the historical complex category The second stage of the comprehensive remodelling project for C/ Cristóbal de Moura is being carried out between C/ Maresme and C/ Josep Pla The goal is to turn this section into a linear garden where priority is given to greenery The work will follow the model for the first stage which renewed the section between C/ Fluvià and C/ Provençals The project will maximise spaces for pedestrians reducing surface space for services and firefighters The central section of the garden will be accompanied by two winding concrete paths two metres wide and for the exclusive use of pedestrians and cyclists There will also be a pedestrian-only zone and another with circulation restricted to local people The work also includes the renewal of C/ Puigcerdà which crosses Cristóbal de Moura and makes up one of the other green streets anticipated in the current urban planning for the 22@ area the project will follow the same development model initiated around Ca l’Alier with a section of curbless paving prioritising pedestrians Between the pavements and the central space there will be a free section from one side to the other with vegetation Both streets will keep their existing trees and more will be planted Drip systems and a sustainable urban drainage system (SUDS) will also be installed enabling the area to reuse rainwater for watering the plants and trees there providing shade at the same time at five points along the paths in the central green area The work will transform an area of 4,300 square metres and take around 14 months