Corsini: the market where the first football match of Tarragona had been played

The plot where the Central Market of Tarragona was built was not always the heart of the city. At the beginning of the 20th century, it was little more than a vacant lot on the outskirts of the Eixample, where Tarragona residents used to play football and cycle. The first football match in the city's history was played right there, in the velodrome that was then called Plaça del Progrés. Today, the square is named Corsini, in honor of the chief public works engineer of the city at the beginning of the century.

The decision to build a covered market there resolved a demand that the city had been dragging since the 19th century: to unify the scattered points of sale, many of them outdoors and in very poor hygiene conditions. The municipal architect, Josep Maria Pujol de Barberà, designed a rectangular building with three naves, with wrought iron and reinforced concrete columns, a then innovative material for Tarragona. The symmetrical facades with large arcades evoke the spirit of the Viennese Secession, specifically Otto Wagner's Karlsplatz. The three naves and the wrought iron, on the other hand, connect it with the Born Market. The inauguration, in December 1915, was the event of the year.

The original roof was covered with glazed ceramics, a detail that was lost between renovations and the ravages of the bombings of the Civil War. The central nave, however, remains imposing: the fiber-cement vault, the blinds that let in light, the columns that support the structure with restrained elegance. And all very close to where the Romans of Tàrraco used to buy and sell two thousand years ago.

In October 2007, the major renovation arrived. What was supposed to be a two-year project ended up taking a decade. During all that time, the stallholders set up in front of the market and the merchants moved temporarily to Rambla Nova. When the market reopened, it was clear that the Rambla had changed them. The street vendors stated that sales had fallen by 70% since they had returned to Corsini and threatened to close if the City Council did not listen to them. The antique dealers of the Mercat de Sant Quadrat also resisted returning to the square. They said that the heat in the summer was unbearable and that sales had nothing to do with those on the Rambla. In the end, the antique dealers managed to stay on Rambla Nova. The merchants, on the other hand, returned to the old market.

Since 2018, the carillon on the main facade, the first of its kind in Catalonia, opens its doors twice a day and parades the Nano Capità, the Àliga, the Gegants and the Lleó to the rhythm of Amparito Roca. At twelve noon and six in the evening. The square stops for a moment, and the lifelong market becomes a small street theater. There are people who see it every day. There are people who stop for the first time and don't quite know where to look.

The 2017 reform modernized the facility without breaking what makes it unique: the proximity of the product, the seasonality of the stalls, and the wisdom of the stallholders with decades of work behind them. A market is a political, urban, and cultural decision. And the Central de Tarragona, one hundred and ten years later, continues to be the best proof of this.