Fonteta: Les Gavarres, history and holiday apartments
Accommodation in Fonteta
Town Centre and History
The compact town centre of Fonteta is clustered around the parish church of Santa Maria, with its narrow streets. Some of Fonteta’s streets still retain their old paving, giving the village a distinctly rural, typically Empordà character. The houses in Fonteta’s town centre date from the 16th and 17th centuries and feature vaulted ground floors, wooden-beamed ceilings on the upper floors, and inscribed and dated door lintels. The old Camí Ral passes through Fonteta and once connected La Bisbal with the coast via the former hamlet of Fitor. Fonteta is mentioned in 844 as a rural settlement that Charles the Bald donated to the Bishop of Girona.
File:Santa Maria de Fonteta 1.jpg
Photo: Josep Maria Viñolas Esteva via Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 4.0
Landscape and Trails
Fonteta lies at the foot of the Les Gavarres massif, practically at the entrance to its forests and to the right of the stream that bears the village’s name. From Fonteta, easily accessible trails lead into the forests and mountains of the protected Les Gavarres area. Route 4: Fonteta leads into the Les Gavarres massif and passes the Romanesque church of Fitor as well as the dolmens of Serra d’en Cals. Route 4: Fonteta is a 17.46-kilometre PR route with 362 metres of elevation gain and a stated duration of 4 hours and 45 minutes. It starts at the car park opposite El recuit de Fonteta. A PR-C hiking trail from Fonteta provides access to Fitor on foot and forms part of the Baix Empordà hiking trail network.
Church and Local History
The present-day church of Santa Maria de Fonteta preserves a Romanesque nave from the 11th century. Santa Maria de Fonteta is a fortified church. The bell tower of Santa Maria de Fonteta dates from 1755.
Festivals and Craftsmanship
Fonteta’s Festa Major includes a botifarra event, children’s activities and concerts on Saturday. Sunday’s programme features a mass, a traditional stick dance, a sardana performance and a concert. The areas around Fonteta and Sant Climent de Peralta once had more than twenty lime kilns; the surviving examples are still visible, but are in poor condition. The artisan Josep Matés Porcel makes traditional yet contemporary black-clay ceramic tableware in Fonteta, without glaze or varnish.
Cycling and Regional Products
Cycling tourism stage 11 runs from La Bisbal d’Empordà through the localities of Fonteta, Vulpellac and Canapost to Peratallada. The stage thus names a complete sequence of places between La Bisbal d’Empordà and Peratallada, with Fonteta listed as one of the localities along the route. Recuit de Fonteta is a registered trademark bearing the “Producte de l’Empordà” quality designation awarded by the Consell Comarcal del Baix Empordà.
To the main travel overview: Forallac.
