Platja de Aro

Playa de Aro (Platja d’Aro) was originally a small fishing village on the road to San Palamos Feliu de Guixols located in a great beach. It is now packed with tourist hotels during local holidays.

Prehistory

In the area of Pinell, the first population dates from 2500 BC, during the Neolithic period. There have been a dozen pit graves discovered from this era. Around the year 2000 BC, toward the end and during the Neolithic and Chalcolithic periods, people began establishing human populations in the mountains of Treumal and Vallvanera.

Several megalithic monuments have been found, including Menhires in Vallbanera and Dolmen Cova dels Moros (Cueva de los Moros).

Roman Times

Villas in Pla de Palol have been discovered dating back to Roman stays between the first and third centuries AD. These occupy an area of 10,000 m², an important part of space without buildings and courtyards.

The town operated the land, both agriculture and the cultivation of vines. There was also extraction for the manufacture of clay pottery that was then exported by sea through the natural harbor that was Cala Rovira.

Middle Ages

From the ninth century, after regaining the territories to the Saracens, people began restocking in Aro Valley. The first settlers were farmers. In 881 King Charlemagne offered the bishop of Girona the territory of Aro Valley.

The first documents referencing Playa de Aro show the original name of Fanals d’Amunt, appearring in 968. It is a precept of King Lothario, confirming Sunyer as abbot of the monastery of Sant Feliu de Guixols and its possessions, which had Fanals d’Amunt and the church.

The origin of Aro Castle is on Castle Benedormiens. The castle was documented in 1041, when the clergy, knights, and nobles of the area fought in the monastery of San Feliu de Guixols for custody of the castle with the obligation to protect all of the Aro Valley, which is an important part Fanals.

There are documents from 1585 showing the existence of a new church in the Baix Fanals, the current Fanals d’Aro. This was formed around a new settlement after leaving Fanals d’Amunt.

Modern Platja dAo

For centuries there was only a single municipality in 1858 and was split into two, with Romany, Bell-lloc, Santa Cristina de Aro, Solius, and another castle Fanals d’Aro. This shaped and birthed the two current cities—Santa Cristina de Aro and Aro Castle.

Castillo de Aro (in Catalan, officially Castell-Platja d’Aro) is a municipality in the comarca of the Baix Emporda, formed by Castillo de Aro, Playa de Aro, and S’Agaro. It is situated in the province of Girona, in the autonomous community of Catalonia, Spain.

Castillo de Aro (Castell d’Aro) is located on the Costa Brava. Calonge bordered Castillo de Aro to the north; the west is bordered by Santa Cristina de Aro; to the south is Sant Feliu de Guixols; and to the east it is bordered with the coastline.

Castillo de Aro extends through the eastern end of the Aro Valley, a narrow plain drained by the river Ridaura located between the Sierra de Cadiretes and mountains of the southern Massif Gavarres.

In 1964 there was a weeklong celebration for 50 couples and their marriages with the song “Love is Cited in Playa de Aro.”

In 1970 the city council, owner of Castle Benedormiens Castillo de Aro, commissioned its first restoration. It retained the oldest part, dating from the 12th century.

In 1978 he returned to celebrate the Carnival and, in 1979, became the first town hall of the new democracy. In 1983 they opened the rooms of the castle Benedormiens for presentations.

In 1995 it was officially declared a Cultural Asset of National Interest by the Generalitat of Catalonia of the old Castillo de Aro, together with urbanization and its historical S’Agaro walk.

In 1996 a new campaign was launched for high-impact tourism, which proposed to tourists and visitors that if they found shells and sea snails, they could win very special prizes and participate in the lottery of a car.

In 1997 Platja d’Aro was inaugurated in the Castle Museum of Aro Nina (Doll Museum). The museum displays 350 dolls from all eras. Also noteworthy is the Living Manger representation that residents of the town participate in each year.

In 1843, establishing the benefit of landowners with high incomes, a centralized municipal suffrage was created. In the elections of 1869, the nature of the federal and republican Ampurdan and Fanals was reflected.

Therefore, in response to the suspension of constitutional guarantees and the action of disarming the militia, the popular vote dictated a central government. The feds and the people rose up in the Fanals and supported and participated in the “Foc of Bisbal,” where government forces clashed.

The architect Rafael Maso Valenti, a man of great artistic sensibility, picked up the ambitious project of the family Ensesa, which promised to deliver a descendant of the first solar S’Agaro.

He wanted to build a residential town, making S’Agaro become a small village in the Catalan integrated with its surroundings. At the same time new buildings were developed: the Baths of Sant Pol, the luxurious Hotel Monumental, and the Hostal de la Gavina.

In 1962 Platja produced the definitive tourist development for the municipality with the name change of the Fanals de Aro to Playa de Aro. The change in capital and the city’s historic center occurred in the same year, along with the first major campaign to promote tourism at the international level.