Sant Martí Sarroca

The town grew around the hill known as la Roca, where a castle and the church of Santa Maria rose together to form what is still called the Conjunt monumental de la Roca. Iberian remains — including a ceramic kiln and traces of habitation — were discovered there in 1954, but the first written record dates to around 966, when a man named Galí de Santmartí restored the castle and settled there. The castle itself was originally Islamic in origin, and Galí, one of the repopulators of the Penedès region, later connected by lineage to the notable Mir Geribert of Olèrdola.

Before 1100, Arnau Mir de Santmartí had the first church on the site built and dedicated to Santa Maria. The current church was enlarged and reconsecrated in 1204, when the castle was held by Ferrer de Santmartí. After the Santmartí line died out, the castle passed through several hands — the Entença family, then Queen Elionor and King Martí l'Humà. In 1381 it was acquired by Bernat de Fortià, who sheltered there with Queen Sibil·la de Fortià during the illness and death of King Pere III (1386–87). It later passed to the Cervelló family and then, around 1481, to the charitable institution of Barcelona Cathedral, which had held rights over it since the previous century. By 1831 the Marquis of Dosaigües appears in records as its lord.

The castle was badly damaged during the First Carlist War, when it was burned. Municipal ownership followed, and in 1963 restoration work began under the Monument Conservation Service of the Diputació de Barcelona.

The town also carries a specific moment of Catalan resistance. On 4 January 1714, a Bourbon column of around 150 soldiers arrived to collect the quinzenades — a tax imposed by Philip V requiring Catalan towns to fund his army's upkeep. Local farmers attacked the soldiers and forced them to flee. The episode helped spark a broader uprising across Catalonia, which the Bourbon command suppressed with executions and the burning of towns. Sant Martí Sarroca, along with Cardona, was one of the last places to fall under Bourbon control, on 18 September 1714 — a week after Barcelona.

The municipality sits in the Foix river valley in the Alt Penedès comarca, northwest of the comarca's capital. The Pontons stream also drains through the area, joining the Foix near Rovellats. Several small hamlets and settlements belong to the municipality, including la Rovira Roja, el Romaní, els Hostalets, Rovellats, la Bleda, and others.