Modernist Sitges

35 km south of Barcelona, Sitges is the perfect place to spend a day at the beach.

Sitges’ beautiful beaches and peaceful mountains proved irresistible to the Catalan wealthy and Modernista artists and intellectuals at the turn of the 19th-20th century and it became a summer resort. Far from the mass tourism agglomerates, in Sitges you can still find modernist buildings and streets that preserve the charm of the white coastal town.

The Houses of the “Indianos” (Colonialists): When Christopher Columbus discovered the new continent he thought he had discovered a new route to India. In the same way that the Caribbean is called the “West Indies,” the Catalan colonialist who went there to make their fortune in cotton, rum, tobacco etc were called “indianos.”

Some did (Bacardi, for instance) and when they returned to Catalonia on the outbreak of the Cuban war of independence at the turn of the 19th Century, many built beautiful houses on the seafront which became known as the houses of the Indianos.

The Cau Ferrat Museum guided tour: Santiago Rusiñol, bohemian painter and sculptor, became enchanted with Sitges in 1884, probably while staying in Vilanova. Struck by its light, he decided to move his collections of art there, until then kept in Barcelona. He bought 2 fisherman’s houses in the Quiet Corner, unifying the façades in neogothic style. The ground floor of the new house was the residence, decorated with plates and other ceramics.

The upper floor was a magnificent hall in which a great variety of art was exhibited: Rusiñol’s collection of forged iron, 2 El Greco paintings, paintings by Rusiñol, Zuloaga, Casas, Clarasó etc.

Tansport is needed, either private, in coach or car, or public, in train and metro.

- Apart from Cau Ferrat there are 2 more museums in Sitges, the Mar i Cel (Sea and Sky) Museum which has a collection of religious art donated by Dr Pèrez Rosales, and the Romantic Museum, a late 18th century mansion with an interesting period collection. Please tell us if you would like to visit them.

- If you would like us to organize lunch in a local restaurant, please tell us. You will need a couple of hours extra.