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.

The definitive impulse to start writing, a self-confidence therapy, the stimulus to tell that story that is kept in a corner of the soul or a creative activity for an active retirement. The students of the Vicenç Pagès Jordà Writing Room of the Girona City Council are as diverse and heterogeneous as the motivations that have led them to want to write. But all of them, despite their different origins, ages or abilities, are touched by the same passion for writing. And for reading! Since the founder of the school, the late writer from Figueres Vicenç Pagès, did not conceive of one activity without the other.

Girona is a medium-sized city of just over 100,000 inhabitants. Within a few kilometers, a diverse and contrasting urban landscape is concentrated, with very little physical distance between affluent and humbler neighborhoods. As confirmed by the data from the Annual Population Census of the National Institute of Statistics (INE), analyzed by ARA, district 2, which includes Montilivi and part of Palau, has around 9% of its population born abroad, while, at the same level, but on the southwest side of the city, in Santa Eugènia, this proportion exceeds 50%. the data from the Annual Population Census of the National Institute of Statistics (INE), analyzed by ARA,district 2, which includes Montilivi and part of Palau, has around 9% of its population born abroad, while, at this same level, but on the southwest side of the city, in Santa Eugènia, this proportion exceeds 50%.

The Fundació Cultural El Foment de Girona doesn't stop growing. It landed in the city six years ago, in the midst of a critical moment of the pandemic, in Plaça dels Mercaders, and, since then, it has been expanding around this nerve center in the heart of the old town, with more and more leisure and gastronomic proposals, always with Catalan culture as its banner. It has now become a non-profit foundation, funded by more than 300 members and, in one year, it manages to program up to 400 proposals, more than one a day, including concerts, workshops, tastings, monologues, literary cafés... And, this 2026, for Sant Jordi, it is organizing a grand celebration again.

A group of cypresses, the tree that symbolizes welcome and hospitality, surround the kiosk that functions as a bar in the Parc dels Jardins de les Pedreres in Girona. Josep Maria Esteban, who has worked there for ten years in a totally altruistic manner, mentions this symbolism of the cypresses because he believes that welcome is one of the essential characteristics of this urban park, which in past years the residents of the Pedreres-Fora Muralla neighborhood avoided due to its state of abandonment and which today they have made their own as a meeting place, for birthday celebrations, for snacks, for an outdoor classroom to practice Zumba or yoga, to walk pets there, and to celebrate spoken-word performances, among many other activities.  

Joan Vinyes Miralpeix (Anglès, 1918 - Barcelona, 2009) could not long resist the hypocrisy of priestly life, the total submission of the Church to Francoism, nor the celibacy (only apparent) that his condition as a priest imposed on him. All these contradictions, and some more, converged in his last mass, on Sunday, October 1, 1950, when from the pulpit of the church of l'Escala he announced to his astonished parishioners that he was ceasing to be a priest. It was the first case of apostasy in Francoist Girona, which tried by all means to bring him back into the fold of the Church, even through institutional conspiracies to make him appear mad and lock him up in a mental asylum. "In the time of national-Catholicism, it was an act of total rebellion and they could not tolerate it, which is why they considered that he could only be mad," explains Josep Maria Vinyes i Vilà, who has taken care of the memoirs written by his father.

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.

In Bàsquet Girona's last home game at the Fontajau pavilion, against Andorra, play was interrupted several times due to repeated power outages. The local team ended up winning the match, but the opponent managed to close the gap during the pauses caused by technical problems, which distracted the Girona players. It was the weekend of March 15th, the one with strong winds in the northeast of Catalonia, but the same situation had already happened before. In January, for example, in the EuroLeague game between Uni Girona and Galatasaray, the initial whistle sounded an hour late due to the same problem. And this March, against Casademont Zaragoza, the court went dark again with one minute left to play, with Uni two points down. The interruption broke the team's positive momentum and the home team ended up losing by three points.

The brief curriculum he has written, of little more than four lines, does not do justice to his professional career in the performing arts world, which is immense, not only for the large number of roles he has played, but also for the quality of the plays in which he has acted and for the excellence with which he has interpreted each of the characters. "Pep Cruz is theatre made man," critics have said of him. "An actor who does everything well," has also been written about him. "The most popular and beloved of the actors in the Catalan theatrical Olympus," others have added. Born in Girona in 1948 and forged as an actor in this city, Pep Cruz has worked, as a performer, as a director, or as a screenwriter in almost a hundred plays, including Cyrano de Bergerac, King Lear, Forido Pensil or Infantillajes; he has acted in 8 musicals, including the successful Mar i Cel; in 8 television series, such as Ventdelplà and Oh! Europa, and in more than thirty films.

For the reformist sectors of the Franco regime, the monarchy established by General Franco was a red line that could not be crossed. Regardless of popular will, the king was an indisputable institution, guaranteeing the continuity of the system and its servants, and also allowing for a controlled transition. A referendum on the form of government was impossible, but not only that: everything that represented the image, value, and symbol of the Republic, such as the tricolor flag, was persecuted for several years. The struggle continued beyond the approval of the 1978 Constitution, beyond the years of institutional and political transition.

The Tornés pastry shop in Girona (51 Migdia Street) has just won the competition for the best sweet in the world, held in Girona's Lleó market square. Master pastry chef Josep Maria Tornés is co-author of the Girona sweet's ten commandments, written in 1991, and states that the recipe he follows is similar to the one written by pastry chef Puig (the sweet's creator) a hundred years ago. "I've changed the percentages of sugars and fats especially," says the pastry chef, who assures that the sweet he now makes has been updated to be more appealing.

Last September Jaume Veray resigned as president of the PP of Girona to make way for the young Empordanès Daniel Ruiz, until then general secretary in the province. To form a tandem, Ruiz chose as his number two a name that the party did not make public: Alfonso Sánchez Fisac, former deputy of Ciutadans in the legislature of the 1-O referendum (until 2020) and former councilor of Tossa de Mar (2019-2023), before joining the popular ranks. That decision, however, has not stopped accumulating criticism, and one of the most vocal concerns the fact that he lives in Barcelona.

Right across from the church in Riudarenes, a town of just over 2,500 inhabitants, stands a farmhouse with stone walls and a beamed ceiling, over 300 years old, proudly displaying the flags of Girona and Catalonia. This is Restaurante Can Cordons. "We try to make dishes respecting traditional cuisine, but with a modern touch," says Pau Turon (Riudarenes, 2000), its owner for the last eight years. "We met at the Girona Hospitality School," replies Gerard Picard (Girona, 1995), the chef. "Even though I'm now in the dining room, I'm also a cook," Turon asserts. That's not all they share, as they are also big Girona fans, although Picard has a bit of a Barcelona side. "Now I'm a little more of a Girona fan than a Barça fan," he admits. Míchel's team visits Osasuna this Saturday (6:30 p.m., Movistar LaLiga).

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."

Enjoying an exceptional panoramic view and being able to glimpse, in a 360-degree turn, the Girona plain, the Medes Islands, the Montgrí massif, the Pyrenees, Montseny, the Rocacorba mountain range, and the Guilleries mountains is well worth the effort required for the now legendary Subida a los Ángeles (Ascent to the Angels), with its climb known as Matahomes and a route with a significant elevation gain of 425 meters in just 9 km. Difficulty and scenic beauty (not only that enjoyed once you reach the summit, but also that offered by the entire route, in the heart of the Les Gavarres massif, with such attractive spots as the Bishop's Fountain and the Olivet d'en Sauleda) converge in this race, which celebrates its 62nd edition this Sunday. Established in 1964 by the Gironí Excursionist and Sports Group (GEiEG), it is the oldest mountain race in the State and, despite its difficulty, each year it brings together more than five hundred participants in the three modalities: competitive, popular and inclusive, the latter for people who go in wheelchairs.

The journey is one of the foundational myths of literary history. Literally, it represents the adventure of leaving or returning home, and metaphorically, it encapsulates the full meaning of any form of inner experience involving personal movement or evolution.Odyssey from Homer to theUlysses by James Joyce. From Quixote From Cervantes to the adventures of Jules Verne. From Goethe's coming-of-age novels to Mark Twain's picaresque tales. From Moby Dick Melville's journey through the paradises of Aurora Bertrana...

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."

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."

The journalist and delegate of ARA in Girona, Mariona Ferrer i Fornells, won this Thursday the award for the best press work in the XVII edition of the Carles Rahola Awards for Local Communication, which recognize the work of the journalistic profession in the Girona region. Instead of rewarding her for a single piece, as is usually the case, the jury decided to honor her for the set of articles presented, three reports published in ARA and one in the magazine Arrels, because it considers that they offer "close-up views built on local journalistic commitment".