Around Moianès, a walk through the capital and the Espai Hemalosa

A factory dating to 1924 has recently been turned into the Espai Hemalosa. You’re in Santa Maria d’Oló, and in this brand new centre you’ll find information about the history of the village, an exhibition on textiles with two restored old looms, and tourist information about the village and the region. An ideal place, therefore, to your start your exploration of Moianès. The Espai Hemalosa also has an auditorium for concerts or theatre performances, and two small rooms for courses and workshops. You’ll find the Ecomuseum information point here too, the territorial and multi-disciplinary project whose aim is to promote the heritage of Moianès and turn it into a tourist, environmental, social and economic product.

At lunchtime you can go to Magadins Vell, between Moià and L’Estany. It has four cosy rustic dining rooms, as well as an exterior terrace and a garden. After lunch, you can visit the Agrobotiga and its organic poultry farm.

You’ll spend the rest of the day wandering around Moià, discovering its most emblematic streets and buildings and also some of its historic sons, such as Rafael Casanova and the tenor Francesc Viñas i Dordal.

You can start at Plaça de Sant Sebastià, town patron of Moià. Some wall tiles feature songs and tributes to the tree, such as the ‘Hymn to the Fruit Tree’, by Joan Maragall. Walk along Carrer del Forn and admire old emblematic houses, one of which, Can Carner, is the headquarters of the Moianès Consortium and the association centre, and another, at number 25, housed the first Pious School in Catalonia, opened in 1683. Once in Plaça Major, there are interesting points everywhere: the 13th century porches, the church of Santa Maria, from the 17th-18th centuries, the vicarage sgraffiti or, in Carrer de Rafael Casanova, the birth home of the Head Councillor of Barcelona and symbol of the 1714 Catalan resistance, open to visitors. In the same building you’ll find the Archaeology and Palaeontology Museum, closely linked to the very interesting Coves del Toll, the prehistoric caves on the outskirts of the town.

The monument to Casanova is beyond the church. At one end of the square with the sculpture you’ll be drawn to a series of stately homes with modernista elements. Move closer and you’ll see that you are in Carrer de Richard Wagner, and the façades bear the name of operas by the composer. The reference to Wagner is because Francesc Viñas i Dordal, one the tenors who gave some of the best performances of Wagner’s scores, was born in Moià in 1863. You can end your walk surrounded by the peace of the municipal park.

Would you like to spend the night in the region? A good choice is La Pallissa de Magadins, which, as its name suggests, in the past was used to store straw but today provides every comfort and a great rest after a day in Moianès.