New construction single-family homes, renovations and refurbishments in small towns in Empordà, near the Costa Brava. Mostly second homes for families from Barcelona. In keeping with the surroundings and made with local materials. This would be the most representative example of the award-winning architecture currently being produced in the Girona region. This is determined by the projects selected in the latest editions of the Girona Region Architecture Awards, organized by the Girona delegation of the Architects' Association of Catalonia (COAC).

When Noemí Selfín felt strong enough to return to the labor market after 16 years away from work, she knew she had to reinvent herself. At 52, with a disability resulting from an aggressive cancer and a career interrupted for over a decade by treatment, she sensed her resume would hardly compete on equal terms. “So many years out of the labor market made my profile unattractive. I needed to retrain,” she explains. During the pandemic, she began to orient herself towards tech profiles and enrolled in one of the tech bootcamps – intensive training courses – driven by Eurofirms Foundation.

With the news of an agreement in extremis between workers and the garbage collection company to call off the strike that threatened to adorn the city with filth, Girona is finalizing preparations for the event that attracts more people to the city each year: Temps de Flors. A show born in the fifties and consolidated from 1979 onwards, which reaches a record number of visitors each edition. In 2025, it reached 400,000 in just nine days, in a city of just over 100,000 inhabitants.

Joint front of entities, unions and parties in Girona against the manager of the Instagram account Girona Perduda, which with more than 30,000 followers has become since the start of the school year a channel for citizen discontent, on aspects such as cleanliness and safety in the streets, linking immigration and crime with a mixture of photos, videos and true data, others exaggerated, disinformation and fake news. Another example of allegedly non-partisan accounts that serve the far-right to polarize public opinion, according to the assessment of experts consulted by ARA, which in December uncovered the links between the administrator of Girona Perduda and Vox.

How many lives can a book have? In Celrà, straddling Girona and Empordà, for 16 years a recycled reading project has been beating, giving a new life to more than 300,000 books. It shares space with the town library in the old Pagans Factory, a gem of Catalan industrial modernism converted into a municipal space, where the Town Hall coexists with the municipal swimming pools, the library, the music school, art school, and a civic center with a bar and restaurant, and a free indoor play area for children and babies.

A hidden door behind one of the benches in the chapel of the baptistery of Girona Cathedral leads to a dimension suspended in time. It is the entrance to the bell tower of the largest medieval nave in the world. On the Gothic walls, the names of the bells can still be read, and the ropes hang from the ceiling to ring them. Climbing a beautiful and humble spiral staircase leads to one of the rooms that the Girona writer Prudenci Bertrana surely trod in the early 20th century. It is where the bell ringer lived until before the Civil War. Behind a large window overlooking the Plaça dels Apòstols hides a two-story dwelling with three cells, as if it were a stage. The same one where we can imagine the protagonist of Josafat living, the hunched bell ringer, with a pointed skull, eagle's nose and rough hair, who lives isolated, constrained between lust and the weight of sin to fall into the seduction of a prostitute.

Salt is known today for being the municipality with the lowest per capita income in Catalonia. Also one of the towns with the highest concentration of migrant population: nearly 40% of its residents are of foreign nationality. But what headlines have overlooked in recent years is that almost half of this town's surface area is still orchards and pastures. The Monar canal, parallel to the Ter river, marks the border between built-up Salt and the agricultural zone. Few facilities surpass it, except for a large high school built on fertile land. Located on the border with Girona, surrounded by greenery and with magnificent views of the Mare de Déu del Mont, lies Vallvera. A secondary and vocational training center with over 1,200 students inaugurated in 2008, it contrasts with its surroundings as a large gray sheet metal building with a concrete-filled courtyard. "In winter it's a refrigerator and in summer an oven, there's no middle ground!" laments the director, Ferran Maimir, who started this course with a direction very focused on working towards the renaturalization of the courtyard, but with a different method: having the students themselves build the shade with their hands.

When George Orwell (1903-1950) decides to travel to Catalonia in 1936 to fight as a militiaman in the Civil War and "kill fascists", he does not go alone. He had only been married for a few months to Eileen O'Shaughnessy, a brilliant 30-year-old woman who surpassed him in many educational aspects. While Eric Blair, the real name of the young English writer, had no more than secondary education at Eton, she had accumulated the background of having studied literature at Oxford and a postgraduate degree in psychology in London. They will have an unusual "honeymoon": while Orwell is on the Aragon front, Eileen will work in Barcelona receiving British militiamen and will be the first to realize the seriousness of the internal conflict that will lead to the May Events.

Nestled between the AP-7 motorway, the N-II national highway, and the railway line connecting Barcelona and Girona, in a village in the Selva region with fewer than 7,000 inhabitants, lies one of the ten fastest-growing European companies of the last decade: Kave Home. Its formula is quite unique, brimming with differentiating factors. It has become a "growth champion" by being headquartered outside a major city, operating as a 100% family-owned company, and reinventing one of the least modernized economic sectors: furniture. For the past three years, its CEO has been Francesc Julià Ametller (Girona, 1992), son of the founder of Julià Grup. What began with a small warehouse selling mattresses to hotels in Lloret de Mar is now a giant with over a thousand employees, most of them at its headquarters in Sils, having established a mid-range furniture model distinct from Ikea. "Making original, quality design affordable," in Julià's words. The former warehouse has been transformed into a cutting-edge company with hints of start-up More than selling furniture, it sells a concept of "how to live in your home."

Nassima arrives at the Girona Municipal School Enrollment Office (OME) completely exhausted. She had an appointment at ten in the morning, and it's now past ten-fifteen. "I went to work this morning, convinced the appointment was for tomorrow... I'm so stressed out with all this pre-registration stuff," she exclaims. A single mother with three children, her middle son is autistic, she had a premonition of this situation three years ago. That's when she fought hard with the Education Department to prevent her eldest, now 14, from starting secondary school at the Opus Dei-run school for boys in Girona, Bell-lloc College. "I wanted him to go to a public school," she exclaims, "but they didn't give me any alternatives then, and now I'd better figure it out. I can see my eldest will have to go study on the other side of the city because there are no other options or places available."

Older people know it because it was a Marist Brothers seminary. Those born in the 80s and 90s know it because they went there for their first summer camps, sharpening tools and building huts like prehistoric people. And for the Catalan cultural scene, it has become, in the last eight years, an interdisciplinary meeting point. An intimate space where you can enjoy everything from performances by emerging groups, companies, and artists to shows by renowned musicians like Sílvia Pérez Cruz, Adrià Puntí, and the Vallès Symphony Orchestra.

After years of back-and-forth negotiations and a host of uncertainties, the first images of what is to be the future Girona Health Campus were unveiled this Monday. This hospital complex will replace the current Josep Trueta Hospital and, according to institutional forecasts, should have its foundation stone laid by the end of 2028 and be completed by the end of 2031. The winning consortium in the design competition organized by Infraestructures.cat is the same one behind the Quironsalud Barcelona Hospital, the Doctor Moisès Hospital, and the Barcelona Biomedical Research Park, among other projects. This consortium, Pinearq, SLP & Brullet de Luna y Asociados and SLP & PEGI Engineering, SL., has designed a large hospital complex surrounded by trees, with green terraces and a large, car-free interior promenade. Named Devesa de Salut 21, it has received the highest score for the creation of a large amenity area with landscaped plazas connecting it to the city, and a commitment to renewable energy and bioclimatic architecture.

This novel was born during a conversation among friends after a meal, inspired by the testimony of one of their mothers. It's an unknown, harsh, and anonymous story that portrays the inner workings of families who "lived well" under the Franco regime in Girona. It also marks the debut in the genre of lawyer Benet Salellas, former CUP deputy and currently leading the defense of Santos Cerdánand a finalist for the 45th Justo M. Casero Short Novel Prize. "I think we all tend to write what we like to read," he explains about the project's genesis. "I love fiction; I studied Greek philology before studying law. I've always had a bit of a cultured side, and I was challenged to try to write a novel. I wanted it to be anonymous, so if it's validated, I'll feel more empowered in some way."

The days are getting longer, and on the northern slopes of the Pyrenees, at the foot of the Canigou massif, a valley welcomes spring with the white and pink of cherry blossoms. Watered by the pure waters of the Tec River, which rises near the border, Vallespir is a northern Catalan region of contrasts and cultural riches that remains relatively unknown. A thermal valley, in bloom and, above all, not overcrowded, just two hours by car from Barcelona, ​​with ancient traditions and monuments: from the Bear Festival in Prats de Molló to the Museum of Modern Art in Ceret, a mecca of Cubism, and the Benedictine Abbey of Santa Maria de Arles – founded in 1977. The valley offers seven stays to improve health, prescribed by the French Social Security system, for some 20,000 pensioners. Vallespir is divided into two sub-regions, Alt and Baix, primarily due to its topography. Descending from the Ares pass, where thousands of Catalans crossed the border during the Retirada (the Catalan retreat) fleeing Franco's regime, Prats de Molló marks the entrance to the more mountainous region. Céret and its cherry orchards are the capital of the Baix Vallespir, at the gateway to the Roussillon plain. Much of the route can easily be cycled along a greenway with spectacular, ancient metal bridges, such as the 14th-century Devil's Bridge of Céret, one of the largest single-arch medieval bridges in the world. This is the old railway line that connected the Baths of Arles (Arles-sur-Tech in French) with Elna, which opened in 1898 and operated until the 1930s.

He arrived in Girona during the height of the Spanish Transition, when the houses that are now picturesque along the Onyar River were gray and the city's "dump." Now, the city that welcomed him has just presented him with the most extensive exhibition ever held in the municipality: eight cultural venues are displaying more than 600 of his works, divided by theme. Vicente Huedo (Socuéllamos, Ciudad Real, 1955) is more than a painter: he is also a teacher of painters. Self-taught, and with a natural talent for drawing since childhood, he has taught at the La Mercè Cultural Center for 35 years. "Girona has given me back much more than I have given it," he explains enthusiastically about the exhibition. "It's a luxury in life to feel recognized and loved. After that, I don't think anything will change: it's food for thought, and I will continue creating my own work with the peace of mind of seeing my efforts rewarded."

Made from shortcrust pastry, shaped like a crescent moon, and filled with cream. That's the flaona, one of our Garrotxa desserts that, unlike the chicharrones cake or the aniseed roscón, has largely fallen into oblivion in recent decades. But now Lluís Riera, who has been preparing it every Friday at Cacau Pastisseria for the past 18 years, has set out to revive it. And he's doing it in style. "On the first Sunday of March, we will celebrate the first Aplec de la Flaona (Flaona Gathering). We will meet in the Plaça Major of Olot at 9 a.m. wearing barretinas (traditional Catalan caps), sashes, and seven-striped espadrilles. We will climb to the top of the Sant Francesc volcano accompanied by folk and traditional music. And at the top, we will eat flaones and drink a sip of ratafia.

The Michelin Guide was born in 1900 with a business purpose that most have forgotten today: to sell more tires. How was it possible to combine cuisine with automobiles? Brothers André and Édouard Michelin had founded the company eleven years earlier in Clermont-Ferrand, in central France, encouraged by the positive outlook for the automotive industry. But at that time, there were fewer than 3,000 vehicles on the French market, and most were concentrated in cities. How could they get people to wear out their tires and get them punctured so they could sell new ones? Thus, a guide was launched, initially free, with maps and numerous recommended restaurants, with the intention of encouraging car owners to travel the country. Over time, the selection of the best restaurants by independent "inspectors" solidified the guide's status as a benchmark, and in 1926, quality began to be rated with stars. Today, the guide is a global benchmark, sometimes overshadowed by Michelin-starred restaurants, but it continues to carefully select the best restaurants, even outside major cities. This was the case on Monday in Girona with the presentation of Michelin plaques to recommended restaurants in Catalonia outside of Barcelona. This year, CaixaBank was responsible for presenting the 89 plaques, having taken over the organization with the aim of strengthening its presence in the gastronomy sector. As with Michelin stars, Catalonia accounts for one in five of the top establishments in Spain, with a wide geographical distribution. For 2025, 10 restaurants outside Barcelona will be added to the list, which, in keeping with the spirit in which the guide was created, are well worth a visit.

Alongside the C-65, the road that connects Girona with the Costa Brava, stands the headquarters of the largest Spanish-owned resource company in Spain. Every day, it hires a total of 27,000 people from seven countries; 91,000 annually. And it does so from the industrial park in a cork-producing town, with no intention of abandoning its 35-year history. This is Eurofirms, which, with a turnover exceeding €700 million in 2025 and a 13% growth rate, holds the third-largest market share in the sector nationwide. But that's not enough for them.

The internal squabble in ERC in Girona city This week adds a new chapter after months of power struggles and a few The primaries to choose the mayoral candidate are very close.which ended with Marc Puigtió, former mayor of Sant Julià de Ramis and an ally of Oriol Junqueras, winning by a single vote. The local executive committee of the Republicans just submitted its resignation this Monday to prevent the motion of no confidence presented in January by the only member of the leadership aligned with Puigtió from succeeding. In a joint statement, the now-former executive committee asserts that it is resigning "due to the lack of democratic guarantees" and because it refuses to legitimize practices that it "believes are contrary to the party's values."

In a global context marked by the erosion of rights, a means of transport like the bicycle has become, more than ever, an ideological symbol. Consequently, political polarization directly impacts decisions regarding sustainable mobility. The 2023 municipal elections marked a turning point in many cities: the arrival of new governments has influenced the management of bike lanes, often citing arguments of safety or freedom to move around by car. We have seen this in Castelldefels, Palma, Elche, Valladolid, and Logroño, and Lisbon has drawn attention for impounding bicycles parked in public spaces. At the same time, in Barcelona, ​​the socialist government of Jaume Collboni has maintained the infrastructure but reduced the push for new traffic-calming measures. In Girona, however, the dynamic is different. It has become established in the last decade as the cycling capital of southern Europe, and businesses linked to the sector have multiplied almost fivefold. If at the beginning of 2014 there were only eight cycling shops In the city, there are currently 41. The bicycle has also become an economic and tourist engine: if in Barcelonaexpanded He lives in a rented apartment costing over 2,000 euros and drinks specialty coffees costing 5 euros; in Girona he is accompanied by a high-end road or gravel bike and equipment worth over 4,000 euros.