The dampness that seeped through the walls and the darkness that filled the narrow corridors and rooms of the air-raid shelter in the Jardins de la Infància in Girona were forever etched into the memory of the citizens who hid there when planes flew over and bombed the city during the Civil War. On days of inclement heat waves, visiting this basement, reconverted into a Democratic Memory Space of the Girona History Museum, allows one to learn how the people of Girona protected themselves against aerial attacks and, at the same time, enjoy the much-desired climatic comfort on days of suffocating temperatures.

Julia Aceituno first set foot in Girona in 1990. She had grown up in Talanga, a small town of 40,000 inhabitants an hour from the capital of Honduras, Tegucigalpa, and at the time she was 36 years old and had three children. "I came for a holiday during the time of Felipe González," she recalls. At that time in Girona there were only nine of her compatriots: "We all knew each other!". Thirty-six years later, in the urban area of Girona alone, it is estimated that there are about 20,000 people of Honduran origin, and in the entire province, 40,000.

For the second consecutive year, and with the aim of it becoming a tradition, Girona kicks off the summer with a habaneras singing session overlooking the cathedral and Sant Fèlix. While on the Costa Brava the event is marked by the first Saturday of July in Calella de Palafrugell, in the capital of Girona it is brought forward to Thursday. The evening, organized by the cultural foundation El Foment, also includes a wide gastronomic offering of Catalan products and seeks to re-signify the Plaça Catalunya space.

In Girona, near the border between the neighborhoods of Can Gibert del Pla and Santa Eugènia, a very unique apartment block stands out, surrounded by a tree-lined park. It is a building made entirely of wood, with checkered and symmetrical shapes, featuring two forty-meter facades and open galleries on each of its six floors. The block, inaugurated in 2022, is called 6x6 and is the work of the Girona-based studio Bosch Capdeferro, which has received numerous awards for the project's sustainability and energy efficiency values.

Between Girona and Salt, in a half-finished farmhouse, about twenty African boys, originally from countries like Gambia, Senegal, Mauritania, and Mali, are living in hardship. The house has no electricity or water. It also lacks doors and windows in the openings, and inside, there is only the structure of the main walls. The young men have improvised compartments with cardboard and fabrics where they sleep on mattresses, blankets, and camping tents. In the middle of the building, there is a staircase without walls or a railing, with a very dangerous fall into the void, especially at night. They cook in a room with a wood fire on the ground or with gas stoves, shower with jugs from the well, and have no toilets.

In a labor market that has radically changed in the last three decades, there are companies that have not only known how to adapt, but also to anticipate and grow alongside businesses and people. This is the case of Marlex, which in 2026 celebrates its 30th anniversary as one of the major references for talent and human resources in Spain. What began in 1996 as an entrepreneurial project born in Girona is today a group with more than 500 professionals, more than 80 offices, and a turnover of 180 million euros. But, beyond the figures, the Marlex story is that of a company built on proximity, trust, and a firm conviction: that people are the true engine of economic and business growth. Founded by Jaume Sanabras, Marlex was born with the intention of responding to the real needs of the local business fabric, at a time when the labor market was beginning to transform profoundly. That vision initially materialized into two complementary companies: Marlex People, specialized in temporary work, and Eurogrup Consulting, focused on the selection of qualified profiles.

After the boom of Game of Thrones a decade ago, Girona is once again becoming the setting for a major international series. This weekend, the city center hosts the filming of the first season of Tomb Raider, by Amazon MGM Studios, with actress Sophie Turner as the protagonist. It is the live-action adaptation of the famous video game franchise starring the adventurous archaeologist Lara Croft, which had already reached the big screen at the hands of Angelina Jolie and Alicia Vikander. Now it does so in series format and will premiere next year. In addition to Turner, the cast features prominent names such as Sigourney Weaver and Jason Isaacs, and the production is by Phoebe Waller-Bridge (Fleabag) as creator, screenwriter, and executive producer. 

A Catalan clarinettist and a Syrian oud player creating music together. This is the story of Oriol Marès and Talal Fayad, two young musicians who blur the lines between genres and cultures, moving between influences from jazz improvisation, Latin rhythms, and Middle Eastern resonances. With their quartet, in 2025 they released their first album, Estuarium, and are already working on their second, titled Uncivilized, which they will present in October at the Fira Mediterrània in Manresa, after touring China and South Korea.

Although she hasn't lost hope of becoming a "skater, pianist, dancer, and screenwriter for Larry David," Marta Pasqual (Girona, 1983) combines teaching in secondary school, where she teaches French literature, with writing novels as interesting as L'àngel que em mira (Empúries, 2026), the third she has published since debuting in fiction with El malaventurat senyor Clauss (Empúries, 2022). After winning the Just M. Casero prize with La casa dels caps de setmana (Empúries, 2023), Pasqual presents a story centered on a 60-year-old family man, Isaac, who suffers a domestic accident that leaves him in a coma. This starting point allows the author to combine the account of this decisive moment in the protagonist's life with the flood of memories, both good and painful, that visit him during his convalescence.

The Mossos d'Esquadra entered forcefully this Tuesday early in the morning in one of the most complex neighborhoods in Catalonia. Up to 600 agents of the Catalan police were summoned at five in the morning to launch a major operation against drug trafficking of marijuana in the Font de la Pólvora neighborhood of Girona, as well as in other towns, such as Riudarenes, Cassà de la Selva, l'Escala, Sils, Caldes de Malavella, Brunyola, Llagostera, Bescanó, Celrà, Quart and Salt.

60% of Girona's residents use Catalan as their usual language in social relationships, alone or combined with Spanish. If we look at the priority use of Catalan in Girona, the figure drops to 48%, still above the national average, which is 42% of usual Catalan use including bilingual uses. If we look at exclusive uses, the gap remains: in Girona, only 39% of the population habitually speaks Catalan, and the Catalan average is 33%.

Today we will have new revelations about the judicial investigation into the lobbying activity of former Spanish president Zapatero, because the judge will deliver to the parties everything that is in the initiated summary. And, of course, with new revelations the pressure on Sánchez's government to step down will increase. On this front there is a significant novelty: the PNB, through its president, Aitor Esteban, said yesterday that it would be “irresponsible” for Sanchez to want to exhaust the legislature in 2027, that is to say, that in view of everything that has emerged (the Zapatero case, but also the Cerdán and Ábalos cases) it would be imprudent to want to go beyond this year.What Esteban is telling Sánchez is that he should not abuse his patience and the deadlock in which the parties that voted for the socialist president's investiture find themselves: it is unlikely that the PNB, Junts, and not to mention the so-called "plurinational lefts" will vote for Feijóo as president of the government with Vox in a motion of censure, but if corruption continues to tarnish Sánchez, it is the Spanish president who should be obliged to call early elections. After all, Sánchez came to power with a motion of censure after corruption drowned Rajoy and the PP government.As always happens in these cases, now there are voices demanding that the law better define the limits between lobbying and falling into the crime of influence peddling. And the convenience of rescuing the airline Plus Ultra during the pandemic is also reviewed in hindsight, because it was not essential for air traffic between Spain and Latin America. If it wasn't, why did they rescue it? The PSOE is crossing its fingers so that the judge hasn't found anything else and can recover the discourse of "lawfare" (a possibility that, given what we have seen in the Spanish justice system, would not be so dismissible), but everyone you talk to tells you that, at the very least, Zapatero acted very much on the edge.While the socialists are crossing their fingers that nothing else comes up, in our country, tomorrow there will be another meeting between the Government and the education unions. The teachers' strikes are more than a stone in the government's shoe, they are a boulder in the road that doesn't let it continue to move with confidence and optimism after having been able to present a budget that will be approved. We are at the end of the sports seasons, and Catalonia has lost a team in the First Football Division, Girona. After having reached the Champions League, it drops to the Second Division: the team could not withstand the departure of key players who had made a name for themselves. Not all news is bad. Two Catalans succeeding in the world: the Barça women's football team, which tonight was received in Barcelona by 10,000 people after having won the Champions League, the fourth in the Club's history, in a perfect season that includes all three Spanish titles. And wait, because Alexia Putellas, after Saturday's Champions League, could very well win the Ballon d'Or again. For the visibility of professional women's sport, the service Barça is providing is extraordinary. And Pep Guardiola, who yesterday was bid farewell at City's stadium after 10 years as its manager. The mark Guardiola has left on football can only be defined by "a before and an after"; this can be said of very few managers in history. By the way, both celebrations, that of the Barça players and that of the Santpedor coach, were united by the estelada:

At dawn, with the sword of relegation to the Second Division deeply embedded in the souls of the Girona fans, a hundred white-and-red supporters still had the strength to await the protagonists' departure at the Montilivi esplanade. The mood of the majority wavered between rage and pain, but it had a common denominator: they wanted to see heads roll. We are not talking about the footballers, who, in general terms, are excused. We refer to those in charge. To the leaders who sit in the box. The shouts of "Board, resign" just after the match ended were significant. The Girona fans point to them as culprits of a disastrous outcome that could definitively change the history of the club.

This weekend, coinciding with the final stretch of Temps de Flors, Montjuïc Castle in Girona received a floral offering. It was brought by the residents of this neighborhood, situated on a hill at the northern entrance of the city, far from the hustle and bustle of the center. They were not, however, to decorate and make it look nice, but rather an act of protest due to the poor condition of the fortress, as, although it is considered a cultural asset of national interest (BCIN), it is in a ruinous state: the stones are crumbling, weeds are growing, it is full of graffiti and dirt. Residents barely step foot there and it has become a meeting point for anti-social individuals.

The Girona Auditorium Palau de Congressos celebrates twenty years of history, fully consolidated as one of the major cultural engines of Catalonia. In these two decades, almost 1.9 million people have passed through its halls to enjoy nearly 2,400 concerts and more than 1,200 conferences and events. Coinciding with the anniversary, the Girona venue is organizing, from May 22 to 24, a celebration weekend with high-profile musicians such as Miguel Poveda, the soprano Lise Davidsen and a participatory concert with invited artists, as well as conferences linked to the sector. To review it and discuss present and future challenges, we speak with the director, David Ibáñez.

Catalan Alliance has been announcing some of its mayoral candidates in recent weeks. Among the names announced are party leaders from regional capitals, as well as from other municipalities. Just last Monday, Mireia Alomà was presented as the candidate for Mataró. What it has not yet done is reveal who the candidates for the four provincial capitals will be. It was supposed to be done on Sant Jordi's Day, but the party admitted that the candidate planned for Barcelona backed out at the last minute and thiscaused the announcement of the party leaders for Girona, Lleida, and Tarragona to be postponed. In the capital of Gironès, as ARA has been able to learn, the candidate will be Marc Villafañe Valero.

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.

The public sector contract law is based on the principles of free competition and equal opportunities. Any company, entity, or person from all over Catalonia can submit bids for public administration tenders. This also applies to those from the Spanish State and any country in the European Union. The awarding bodies are very demanding and do not accept any criteria that discriminate on the grounds of origin or nationality. However, these public tenders, which are necessary to guarantee transparency and prevent favoritism, sometimes result in surprising awards, with decisions that are difficult for citizens and local businesses to understand.

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.

Girona's Devesa park woke up this Monday to an absolutely unprecedented crowd. A stream of people, mostly young people and teenagers, from all over Catalonia and beyond, have been queuing since the crack of dawn, summoned by the announcement of a casting call for the new Disney film Tangled (Enredats), a Disney live-action remake of the original animated film, which will be shot in July in the city and is expected to be released from 2027 onwards. By midday, the line of interested people still surrounds the entire Girona park: from the Palau Firal, where the casting is taking place, to past the roundabout of the courts and the esplanade of La Copa. The surrounding streets are also packed, the car parks are saturated, and at some point in the morning, traffic problems have even been generated.