In October 2015, agents from the Civil Guard's economic crimes unit entered Tarragona City Hall to seize the hiring files of the Municipal Institute of Social Services during the years 2011 and 2012. The Civil Guard, which conducted searches in various municipal offices that day, was acting on orders from the Tarragona Court of Instruction number 1, which was investigating possible irregularities following a complaint filed by the CUP in 2013. Thirteen years after that complaint, the trial is arriving, which involves a heavyweight of the PSC: the then-socialist mayor Josep Fèlix Ballesteros. The Public Prosecutor's Office is requesting five years and eight months in prison for him. The PSC is accused of being a civilly liable party for profit and has already had to pay a bail of 276,157 euros. In total, there are nine people accused in this case of the crimes of prevarication, embezzlement of public funds, fraud, and document forgery, among others. And also five other people accused of being civilly liable parties for profit, in addition to the PSC. Ballesteros' lawyer, David Rocamora, explains to ARA that they are eager for the trial to be held in order to be able to prove the former mayor's innocence.

The history of spas is closely linked to the use of medicinal waters and the evolution of ancient bathing spaces into new centers for health, rest, and summer holidays. They were also a new economic activity and a true industry, which knew how to turn the properties of the waters into a business linked both to the stay of the bathers and to the commercialization of their products. Some establishments even went as far as bottling their waters to market them. A part of these establishments had their origin in springs known for centuries, while others were born as a result of the expansion of the spa culture that, during the second half of the 19th century, spread throughout Europe.

Born in Tarragona in 1969, Enric Aguilar Anfrons has been linked to the Rovira i Virgili University since its creation. He is a climatologist by profession and has held a doctorate since 2000, with a thesis that studied climate change in Antarctica. A large part of his career has been linked to the World Meteorological Organization (WMO), a United Nations agency for weather, water, and climate. Aguilar is the director of the University Institute for Research on Sustainability, Climate Change and Energy Transition (IU-RESCAT).

The last article we published in the Ara Descobrim of the Camp de Tarragona supplement was dedicated to closing a series on the markets with the most tradition in the Camp and Terres de l’Ebre regions. With this September’s rentrée, I want to change things. We will go back to the origins!

Salou grew with tourism and, for decades, the train was one of its main gateways. Now, the old railway corridor is giving way to the TramCamp, in a territory that demands a public transport network on par with the growth of the Costa Daurada. A necessary commitment to mobility that, at the same time, makes a part of the railway landscape that for decades accompanied the transformation of the Camp de Tarragona coast disappear.

Last Tuesday afternoon, in Baix Penedès, as in other regions, we received two ES-Alert warnings advising that torrential rain was expected on Wednesday. But the warning did not come alone: it also arrived with restrictions. Educational and university activities, outdoor sports activities, and some services were suspended; it was recommended to avoid travel and to apply teleworking whenever possible.

“I tried to awaken the conscience of the attendees in the face of the delicate moment the wine world is experiencing by insisting on its cultural and social work, which is very great”. Andreu Ortiz is the second generation of Celler Nin Ortiz, in Porrera. He has been recognized as one of the hundred young talents of gastronomy 2026 by the Basque Culinary Center, alongside sommeliers like Cyril Vermeulen and Paula Cuenda and the chefs and cousins Martí and Marc Roca (El Celler de Can Roca). “I don't receive it as a burden, it motivates me, it makes me excited. I left the event with a great desire to work even better and to overcome challenges”, he reveals. He studied international relations, which have served him in the wine world to foresee and prepare scenarios, to negotiate and to learn from opposing opinions. He has memories as a child in the field: pruning, carrying stones, on the tractor. As a teenager, he needed to distance himself from it.

There are brands that vibrate in silence so strongly that they don't even need to speak. And there are others that shout and unfold neon signs and go unnoticed. The difference is not the message. It is the frequency they emit.

Reducing emissions, generating energy, and obtaining fertilizers, and above all, continuing to research. These are the three functions of the new biogas plant that the Director General of Agriculture and Livestock, Rosa Altisent, presented this Monday at the facilities of the Institute of Agrifood Research and Technology (IRTA) in Constantí (Tarragonès), Mas Bové. It is the first biogas plant in the entire State at a public research center, and this characteristic should foster knowledge about this energy generation system, which, although it has been used for a long time, has gained more interest in recent years, partly due to the price hikes caused by the war in the Middle East, one of the areas where the most fertilizers in the whole world are produced.

If it is true that he who has most needs least, Montserrat Domingo surpasses us all. One could say that with prayer, she has enough. She lives in an old stable of about 40 square meters, distributed over two floors. The dining table is full of cardstock and small pots of paint that she uses to reproduce the flowers and plants that surround her. She makes bookmarks with them and gives them away to visitors. The walls are covered with calendars from past years and books, especially on religion and icons, but also on artificial intelligence and nature. In one of them, dedicated to foxes, she even appears, where the authors explain that a lame fox used to approach the hermitage of Sant Joan del Codolar so that the hermit woman would give it food. "It was coming for a long time and it would stretch out right here. It was lame, but when someone came, it would run away. It's dead now," she recalls. She also has dozens of copies of Serra d'Or, the magazine published by the Abbey of Montserrat. The animals of the forest, the plants, the ancient trees, and prayer, especially prayer, are her life. "Prayer is what sustains me," she says.

With a modest budget – that of a mountain village of only 644 inhabitants – organizing the arrival of thousands of visitors to see the eclipse was not easy at all. But Prades (Baix Camp) managed it. The Generalitat had committed to helping only those municipalities chosen as observation points that, among other requirements, had to have more than 3,000 inhabitants and more than 55 seconds of total eclipse. Prades, which enjoys the accreditation of one of the best skies in Catalonia, was left out. Not a single euro. "Nobody has helped us," lamented the mayoress, Lídia Bargas, this Thursday.

"Wow". Almost in unison. Never before had a galactic orgasm of this magnitude been experienced in Prades. About 4,000 people looked at the sky with super-approved glasses until the Moon completely covered the Sun. "Woooow". And many shouts. Some cries. Lots of applause and a lot of emotion. In Prades, which has one of the best skies in Catalonia, the eclipse could be seen perfectly, both from the esplanades set up by the City Council and from those prepared by the Prades Mountains Astronomical Park. People came from all over Catalonia, from the rest of Spain, from Japan, from the United States, and many French people.

The Catalan municipalities from which the eclipse can be well observed have organized to offer safe and controlled spaces from which to enjoy the meteorological spectacle. The objective is threefold: on the one hand, it is a way for the town councils to help citizens enjoy the eclipse and it is also a new opportunity to promote each city, in full tourist season. But there is also a safety reason, and that is that the emergency teams, on a day that will mobilize tens of thousands of people, prefer to have citizens in a municipal sports center rather than wandering around the mountains looking for a good observation point. "Anything that is orderly, the better," explain sources from Civil Protection.

Would you like to become a novicus, an apprentice gladiator in the amphitheater of Tarraco 2,000 years ago, for a few minutes? You will do so guided by Marcus Valerius Mesala, editor muneris of Tarraco, who will explain the secrets of this space, you will be able to witness a gladiator fight and experience a fight against exotic animals from the arena itself.

A fishmonger, a delicatessen, a butcher shop, a bakery, a salted fish stall, a poultry shop, and a greengrocer's. That was all that remained of Valls' Central Market in the winter of 2009. Five traders kept open the last seven stalls of a facility that had been dying for a long time.

Since the beginning of summer, there have already been more than 150 fires in Catalonia, a frightening figure. We hear a lot about climate change and, while I won't be the one to deny this reality, it must also be said that many of the fires that have occurred have had human hands behind them, whether directly or indirectly: a grinder, the use of pyrotechnic material, a machine that catches fire...Climate change exacerbates the risk, but it cannot be an excuse to stop talking about human responsibility, lack of prevention, and land management. I am not a firefighter, and I admire them greatly, but if there's one thing I've learned by listening to experts, it's that fire prevention is done during the winter. Now we are already late.There is too much fuel in the forests, and this causes fires to spread more quickly and with more virulence. Therefore, when summer arrives, it is not enough to react.Perhaps we should listen more to ranchers, farmers, and growers, and facilitate their participation in the solution. Fewer obstacles, more support for the territory, and more real prevention throughout the year.Gentlemen of the Government, applauding the firefighters is great. But it would be even better to make it easier for them. Because, as that television program used to say, "it is better to prevent than to cure".

When speaking of the origins of the Catalan pharmaceutical industry, the narrative usually focuses almost exclusively on Barcelona. This is a logical association. Companies like Uriach, Viñas, or Esteve, along with the establishment of the first German pharmaceutical multinationals, eventually turned the Catalan capital into the main drug production center in Spain. However, this view often sidelines a little-known but highly significant phenomenon: the role played by the Tarragona region, and particularly Reus, in the early stages of this industrial activity.

The wine made by Eva Vega and her father, José Antonio Vega, from Vilanova de Prades (Conca de Barberà) has already received different gold medals at the Brussels World Competition, but this year their Viern 2015 has even obtained the Revelation Wine of Spain Award, which the same jury only grants to 14 wines out of the 6,700 presented. This wine, which is one of the many produced by the Vega Aixalà winery, fed by a 10.5-hectare vineyard, will go on sale in the coming days.

This June, the People's Party of Catalonia has experienced a calm regional congress that has re-elected Tarragona's Alejandro Fernández as president for another four years. The history of the Catalan popular party has been a Dragon Khan since its foundation in the late eighties, and the president's chair burns out tenant after tenant. Fernández has been in office for eight years now, surpassing the average tenure of the long list of predecessors – the most recent being Daniel Sirera, Alicia Sánchez Camacho, and Xavier García Albiol – and if he completes his term, twelve years will become almost an eternity in the temporal parameters of the Catalan conservatives.

“Art, architecture, and agriculture have many common enthusiasts and nourish each other. That's why we want to be a world-class cultural destination”. Christian Bourdais and Eva Albarrán are owners of contemporary art galleries in Madrid and Maó, but they have added a third one outdoors in Queretes, in Matarranya. “The only solution to the crisis facing the wine world is to integrate interests,” warns Bourdais. That's why they are betting on Venta d’Aubert, an enological project that celebrates forty years today and which, in its beginnings, was driven by Álvaro Palacios and Josep Lluís Pérez, references in Priorat. The first owners were Swiss. Upon reaching their eighties, they are looking for a successor. Preserving the spirit of the place was non-negotiable, and so four years ago they handed over the management to the gallerists Bourdais and Albarrán. From the beginning, there has been the idea that the winery should be a collective and living project, dialoguing with the natural heritage of Matarranya and the Ports of Tortosa-Beseit, “without the arrogance of ownership,” insists Christian Bourdais. And he adds: “I don't understand why this landscape is not more recognized. If they had it two hours from London or Paris, it would be the most expensive place in the world. Here, on the other hand, it is part of the depopulated Spain, but the most relevant thing is that it is authentic”.