Vic

Vic began as Ausa, the main settlement of the Iberian Ausetan people, and later became a Roman tributary town significant enough to be granted municipal status and to receive a temple at its highest point. Under the Visigoths it served as an episcopal seat. In 826 the city was destroyed during a revolt against Frankish rule, and it was only with the repopulation of the Plana de Vic and the founding of the County of Osona by Guifré el Pilós in 878 that the old settlement was rebuilt. The Roman temple walls had survived and were incorporated into a castle; the new town took the name Vicus Ausonae. The cathedral was rebuilt, and Bishop Oliba consecrated its Romanesque version in 1038, of which the crypt and bell tower still stand.

Through the medieval period the city was split between episcopal jurisdiction and that of the Montcada lords of the castle, a division that shaped its growth around the cathedral, the castle and the market square, all enclosed by a turreted wall. Alfonso the Magnanimous unified the city in 1450 by purchasing the Montcada share. Factional conflicts and wars with France brought stagnation. The 18th century began badly — Vic had backed the losing side in the War of the Spanish Succession in 1714 — but economic recovery followed, bringing new civic and religious buildings including the present cathedral.

The 19th century brought further disruption through the Peninsular War and the Carlist Wars, yet the city revived through construction and the arrival of the Barcelona railway in 1875. The Seminary, reviving a medieval cathedral-school tradition, produced remarkable alumni including philosopher Jaume Balmes, Antoni Maria Claret and poet Jacint Verdaguer. Gathered around associations such as the Círculo Literario and the Esbart de Vic, they gave the city a leading role in Catalonia's literary and political renaissance.

During the Civil War, Vic operated an airfield that housed a Republican bomber squadron and later aircraft repair workshops. This made it a target: Francoist forces bombed the city three times, killing dozens of civilians who had no anti-aircraft defences beyond sirens and shelters. Vic fell to Francoist troops on the afternoon of 1 February 1939.

Vic is considered one of the finest medieval ensembles in Catalonia. The cathedral, whose Romanesque crypt and bell tower date from the 1038 consecration by Bishop Oliba, anchors the old city alongside the remains of a Roman temple and a castle whose walls incorporate stones from that same temple.

The city also has an unexpected Gaudí footnote. In May 1910 Antoni Gaudí spent three weeks in Vic on doctor's orders, recovering from nervous exhaustion after years of work going underappreciated by critics. Despite the rest cure, he was drawn into a commission: a pair of commemorative street lamps for the centenary of philosopher Jaume Balmes, born in Vic in 1810. Gaudí designed two lamps in roughly cut basalt with wrought-iron arms, hanging lanterns marked with the dates 1810–1910, and topped with his characteristic four-armed cross in twisted iron, similar to the ironwork on the Casa Milà in Barcelona. They were unveiled on 7 September 1910. By 1924, however, they had been demolished; only photographs remain.

Vic is equally known across Spain for its cured meats, particularly the llangonissa sausage and its commercial variant the fuet.

Vic is around one hour from Barcelona by bus, with multiple departures throughout the day.