Sant Mateu de Bages

Sant Mateu de Bages is a municipality located in the Northwest of the Bages Region, to the West it borders the Sierra de Pinós and the Segarra de la Molsosa plateau ( Anoia and Solsonès regions) to the North with the Sierra de las Garrigues, at noon with the Fonollosa Valley and lift with the Cardener depression.

In 1840, the grouping of various nuclei gave rise to the municipality of Sant Mateu de Bages, which, with 102.9 km2, is the largest in the province of Barcelona, and is made up of five towns: Castelltallat, Coaner, Salo, San Mateu and Valls de Torroella. It could also be added that the current term includes the old stables of Meià and Claret de Cavallers.

Half of the population lives in farmhouses scattered throughout the extensive municipal area, and the other half is concentrated in Valls de Torroella, an old textile colony, the only nucleus with urban characteristics.

The territory is predominantly mountainous, shaped by various plains, foothills and small valleys and drained by the Salo, Coaner and Fonollosa streams, all of which are tributaries of the Cardener River. The Center is crossed by the Sierra de Castelltallat, (approximate altitude 880m, and a maximum height of 936 m. On the Cal Pons hill ) an area included in the Plan for Areas of Natural Interest and in the Natura 2000 Network, with a extension of 4,790.80 Ha. The Cardener river crosses the northeast sector of the term.

It has a very important natural and forest heritage, the most prominent in the region, although it was greatly affected as a result of the fires of 1994 and 1998. Where there is no forest, jonquil or hay meadows predominate. The crops located in the flatter areas are rainfed and mainly cereals. There are important vestiges that suggest that the vineyard and the olive groves were very important in the past.

Despite the fact that the municipality is climatically included within a Mediterranean medium-mountain climate, characterized by low rainfall and a marked thermal variation, an observation at the local level allows us to appreciate a certain decrease in rainfall compared to the northern part of the region. possibly due to the influence of the more continental climate of the neighboring regions of Anoia and La Segarra. But, on the other hand, its thermal oscillation is not as pronounced as that of other places. There is a true winter, and at this time there are abundant thermal inversions and fog at the bottom of the basins and valleys.

The main productive sector of the municipality is the primary sector, where the livestock sector is gaining strength with pig and poultry farms. As regards crops, the herbaceous ones predominate above all (cereals, mainly barley, but also legumes and fodder). From the year 1990, rural tourism has taken an important push in our municipality, it has become a complementary economic activity for the agricultural sector.