Conca de Barberà

Conca de Barberà lies at the heart of the Cistercian Route, a cultural and tourist itinerary created in 1989 that connects the three great Catalan Cistercian monasteries.^[1] The county's main heritage attraction is the Royal Monastery of Santa Maria de Poblet, located in the municipality of Vimbodí i Poblet, declared a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 1991 and considered the largest inhabited Cistercian monastic complex in Europe.^[2]

The county capital, Montblanc, preserves one of the best-conserved medieval walled towns in Catalonia, traditionally regarded as the setting of the legend of Saint George.^[3] Nearby is the Interpretation Centre for the Prehistoric Rock Art of the Prades Mountains, featuring fifteen rock art groups dated between 9000 and 2000 BC, inscribed on the UNESCO World Heritage List as part of the Rock Art Sites of the Mediterranean Basin on the Iberian Peninsula.^[4]

The county is also home to a group of Modernista wineries, declared Cultural Assets of National Interest by the Generalitat de Catalunya, located in towns such as Barberà de la Conca, Rocafort de Queralt, Solivella, Blancafort, l'Espluga de Francolí, Montblanc and Sarral. Local wine production is protected under the Conca de Barberà Denomination of Origin.

The comarca of Conca de Barberà is divided into three geographical zones. The lowland sector consists of the physical Conca de Barberà region: the valleys of the Rivers Francolí and Anguera (Conca means a river valley, and Barberà is one of the principal villages in the valley).^[5] The capital of the comarca, Montblanc is at the southern end of this sector at the confluence of these two rivers. The northern edge of the Conca is marked by the Serra del Tallat escarpment, which separates it from the Baixa Segarra ("Lower Segarra") region, and the south-western zone of the comarca is formed by the Prades Mountains, part of the Catalan Pre-Coastal Range. which straddle the border between Conca de Barberà and the adjoining comarcas of Alt Camp, Baix Camp, Garrigues and Priorat.^[6] These rounded limestone outcrops are clad in forests of pine, oak and chestnut. The climate of the comarca is transitional between a Mediterranean climate and the continental inland climate. The rainfall averages 550 mm (21.7 in), mostly falling in spring and autumn. It can be foggy in winter and the temperature can rise to 38 °C (100 °F) in summer. The comarca has a rich and diverse flora and fauna.^[7]

The northern Serra del Tallat region is the site of several wind farms. When the Catalan Government's Energy Plan 2006–2015 was prepared with proposals that affected the comarca of Conca de Barberà, opinion was divided. Some municipalities favoured the construction of the wind turbines as generating income which would benefit the community, while others objected to the imposition of such projects by the Catalan authorities without sufficient input by the affected municipalities.^[8] In January 2012 it was announced that wind power production in Catalonia had reached 1,000 megawatts, enough to supply over four percent of Catalonia's power needs.^[9]