These days, much has been remembered about the total solar eclipse that could be seen in Catalonia in 1905 and which already generated great social expectation; the one in 1706, coinciding with the first Bourbon siege of Barcelona, and even the one in 1448, which was immortalized in the note of an anonymous scribe in the Generalitat's registry with a drawing that is today the corporate image of the "Dietaris". For this reason, although it may seem a worn-out phrase, the historical appellation fits perfectly with the total eclipse that could be seen this August 12, 2026, in southern Catalonia, northern Valencian Country, the Balearic Islands, Aragon, and the northwest of the Peninsula. And, indeed, seeing it live, one can perfectly understand the fascination it provoked in our ancestors.

When the Festa Major of Riera de Gaià arrives, the colors of the shirts take a back seat. Castellers de la Joves de Valls, la Vella, els Xiquets de Tarragona, els Xiquets del Serrallo, els Nois de la Torre, els Castellers d'Altafulla or other groups from the region take off their usual identity for a day. They put on a checkered shirt, tie their sashes, and form a pinecone under a single name: els Espigolats de la Riera.

Jordi Sendra has been officially chosen as the Junts per Catalunya candidate for the mayoralty of Tarragona this Wednesday. Sendra obtained a total of 108 votes (85.04%) in a primary election in which 127 (82.47%) of the 154 registered militants participated, and which was marked by the absence of alternative candidates. The vote, held between this Tuesday and this Wednesday, culminates what the Tarragona militants requested, who requested to be able to vote in a referendum to decide their future mayoral candidate.

The chef Moha Quach, from El Terrat de Tarragona restaurant and Revelation Award of the Catalan Academy of Gastronomy and Nutrition, has cleaned for the second time graffiti that appeared on one of his restaurant's signs. A year ago, the word Vox was painted on the sign indicating that the restaurant adheres to the Slow Food movement, which was difficult to remove; the second time, a week ago, on the sign indicating it has a Repsol Sun. “Repsol has just sent me a new plaque so I can remove the old one, which again had the word Vox on it,” explains Quach.

A shocked Tarragona recalled this Sunday the three minors aged 12 and 13 who drowned in an accident at Arrabassada beach. The President of the Generalitat, Salvador Illa, and the municipal corporation led by the mayor, Rubén Viñuales, headed the institutional representation in an emotional minute of silence in which the victims' parents and siblings received the warmth and support of the citizens. The event, held in Plaça de la Font, in front of the Town Hall, ended with applause, amidst tears and hugs from those present.

The Gresol Foundation has presented a new edition, the eighteenth, of the Gaudí Gresol Awards. Among the awardees is Antoni Bassas, journalist and co-founder of ARA, who received the award in the journalism category. The event, held this Thursday afternoon at the Antoni Gaudí auditorium in Reus, recognized the professional trajectory and celebrated the notoriety and excellence of reference figures in various areas of the country's social, economic, and cultural fabric.

Casteller rehearsals have changed profoundly over the last decade. Safety nets have become an essential tool for the groups that want to work on constructions of maximum difficulty with the necessary guarantees. While many formations have been adapting their venues to these needs, some have had to live with space limitations that made it difficult to develop modern and efficient systems.

The Archbishop of Tarragona, Joan Planellas, attends to ARA from the Archbishop's Palace, seven years after taking office. He is also president of the Tarraconense Episcopal Conference, which brings together Catalan bishops.

Once again, the Camp de Mart Festival arrives, with around twenty shows for all tastes and ages: musical proposals of large and small format, circus and dance in various locations in Tarragona, from June 26 to August 14. Luz Casal, Rodrigo Cuevas, Lila Downs, Yerai Cortés, Maika Makovski, or the company Mal Pelo, among others, are some of the highlighted names in a program made up of an opera, 14 concerts, 4 circus shows, and one dance show.

The third weekend of May has confirmed the good feelings that were already sensed in rehearsals, with various colles taking a step forward and, in some cases, advancing schedules. The squares of Valls, Vilafranca, and Gràcia have been the great epicenters of a weekend that is already leaving the first notable milestones of the season.

Just over a year remains until the next municipal elections, and in most municipalities, parties are already pulling strings to nominate their candidates and configure their lists. In the four Catalan capitals, a good portion of the candidates have already announced if they will run again, and new names entering the municipal dispute have also been revealed, but there are still unresolved unknowns.

There are cities that tell stories, and others that make you feel them beneath your feet, as if the stones themselves whisper personal tales. Tarragona belongs to this second category. The former capital of Hispania Citerior, Tarraco was one of the most powerful cities of the Roman Empire, and today it continues to display that legacy with respect, admiration, and a serene naturalness.

Crim is a punk-rock band formed in Tarragona 15 years ago. That's how it works out for them, but in the end, they've managed to make a living from music, which is quite an achievement. Especially since they play the music they love, and it's not exactly the kind of music the industry promotes. They've played in various countries, and in this interview, they share their future plans. They're currently touring Spain to present their latest album. Medieval future. They are Adri Bertran, Quim Mas, Marc Anguela and Javi Dorado.

Aliança Catalana held its first municipal convention this Saturday in Ripoll to prepare for the upcoming local elections. Around two hundred members gathered, including representatives from all the regional executive committees that have been formed in recent months. However, two of the former regional presidents were absent. The president of the Maresme committee, Marta Balcells, and the president of the Tarragonès committee, Jordi Borràs, were absent from the convention because they have resigned from their positions, according to ARA. Both have been involved with the project since its inception, joining the party shortly after its founding. Balcells reportedly decided to leave Aliança Catalana due to disagreements with the regional vice president, Josep Maria Prat, who is currently serving as acting president, according to party sources in Maresme. Prat, who has the support of the leadership, has also had disagreements with other board members, but so far only Balcells has stepped down. In a conversation with ARA, the former president of the Maresme region declined to comment, despite confirming her resignation. Jordi Borràs Albesa has also left the presidency of a regional branch, but in this case not of his own volition. He was accused of misconduct by local members and received an expulsion order on Thursday. The leadership has decided to dissolve the executive committee while awaiting the selection of a new one, although Borràs has filed an appeal, claiming the accusations are false, according to party members in Tarragona. These same sources suggest that Gerard Balcells, owner of a tourist apartment company in the Vall d'Aran, could be the new regional president on this new board.

The Mossos d'Esquadra (Catalan police) arrested a 51-year-old man early this morning in Tarragona as the suspected perpetrator of the violent death of another man on Sunday in Vila-seca, in the same region, Tarragonès. The incident reportedly occurred in a hotel room in Vila-seca, according to sources consulted by ARA. The investigation is in its initial stages, but officers have already ruled out the possibility that the individuals involved were tourists and that there were any conflicts linked to organized crime. They describe it as a fight that turned violent. According to the Catalan police, the incident occurred last night, and officers arrested the main suspect in the death around 4:30 a.m. The detainee reportedly traveled from Vila-seca to the city of Tarragona during that time. The Criminal Investigation Division (DIC) of the Camp de Tarragona Police Region has opened an investigation to clarify the facts. For the moment, the case is under seal. Everything indicates that the victim and the detainee knew each other, although authorities have ruled out a romantic relationship.

It was one of the region's long-standing demands, and after many meetings and negotiations, it has become a reality: the Catalan Government agreed this Tuesday to create the Roman Heritage Consortium of Tarraco. The new institution will be comprised of the Tarragona City Council, the Department of Culture of the Generalitat of Catalonia, and the Catalan Agency for Cultural Heritage. The Tarragona Provincial Council, the Ministry of Culture, the Archdiocese of Tarragona, and the municipalities of Altafulla, Constantí, and Roda de Berà will also participate at a different level. The consortium's main function will be to provide it with sufficient funding to guarantee the maintenance and promotion of the Roman remains. Until now, the Tarragona City Council had to request annual funding from other levels of government to help finance the maintenance of the city's heritage. This situation condemned the City Council to never having a guaranteed, sustained investment over time and also to having to settle for insufficient funding. The city's mayor, Rubén Viñuales, criticized the situation in December 2024, stating that it forced the City Council to "beg" to guarantee the maintenance of the heritage, which is as valuable as it is expensive. The Consortium's budget will be 8 million euros annually between 2026 and 2029, with contributions of approximately 3.6 million euros per year from the Generalitat (Catalan Government), 2.5 million euros per year from the Tarragona City Council, and 100,000 euros per year from the Tarragona Provincial Council. In addition, current income generated by the monuments themselves, projected at between 1.7 and 2 million euros, will be included. The Consortium will also manage the investments planned by the Ministry of Culture. It's important to remember that the archaeological site of Tarraco has been a UNESCO World Heritage Site since 2000, and this designation mandates its proper maintenance. In fact, the need to create this consortium, which already exists in other cities with Roman remains such as Mérida, was included in the Tarragona Heritage Management Plan, drawn up in 2015 and revised in 2017 and 2021, and already submitted to the UNESCO Centre in Paris.

The members of the historic Colla La Bota de Tarragona, a group that participates annually in the Carnival parade, have made an unprecedented decision and opted to reverse course and modify the theme they had planned for their performance through the city streets during the upcoming Carnival, as reported by the newspaper ARA. Under the name "Death Adventure," Colla La Bota—along with the comparsa Divax—intended to denounce what they perceive as the "decline" of PortAventura and highlight the labor issues they have raised against the park's workers. Throughout 2025, the unions organized several days of strikes to demand a new collective bargaining agreement, which garnered such significant support that they led to the suspension of ticket sales at the park. Ultimately, however, the theme for the two satirical groups during Carnival will be different.

The Holy Trinity in the Dominican Republic isn't always what Christianity defines: God, Jesus, and the Holy Spirit. On this Caribbean island, it's often used to refer to the three main revolutionaries of the 19th-century War of Independence: Duarte, Sánchez, and Mella, who achieved independence from Haiti—although the island had previously been a Spanish colony. One hundred years later, in Rikers Island prison in New York, a group of Dominican inmates banded together to stand strong against attacks from other prisoners. The motto they chose was "God, Fatherland, and Liberty," precisely the motto of their country. And, to choose their name, they revived the figures of Duarte, Sánchez, and Mella: they became known as the Trinitarios.

Large cities, in addition to managing day-to-day affairs, always have major projects on the table that are difficult to get off the ground, whether due to budget constraints or the need to involve other levels of government, such as the Catalan or Spanish national governments. Tarragona is no exception. Over the last ten years, the mayors who have managed the city have had to think and rethink solutions for the old tobacco factory, the Savinosa neighborhood, the lack of funding for the maintenance of the Roman ruins, the city's urban growth, and the new train station. Some projects still need to be unblocked, but the reality is that, after ten years, the most important ones at least have a clear path forward.

Spanish and international tourism continues to favor the Tarragona region. During the pandemic years, figures plummeted, and the loss of Russian tourists due to the war with Ukraine was also a setback, but the sector has recovered and is now approaching the record figures of 2017, when 22.3 million overnight stays were registered. Wine tourism, the Roman ruins of Tarraco, gastronomy, well-established beach destinations like Salou, and an amusement park that has never stopped growing. PortAventura is celebrating its 30th anniversary in 2025 with undeniable figures: since 1995, it has invested €1.8 billion and received more than 100 million visitors. It currently employs 24,000 people and represents 0.5% of Catalonia's GDP. In 2017, the amusement park opened Ferrari Land, further expanding its leisure offerings, as well as adding new hotels and restaurants.