Espelt Roman Villa

L’Espelt Roman Villa is in the Òdena basin, on a plain surrounded by hills. The remains of two other villas have been found: that of Pla de la Torra (Santa Margarida de Montbui) and that of Vilar del Met (Vilanova del Camí), as well as numerous remains of storage silos, metalworking  establishments and pottery of lime kilns. The layout of these sites reveals how in Roman times the territory was organised around the production of surpluses of cereals, wine and olive oil to supply other regions.

In the Òdena valley, this intensive farming was led by the above – mentioned villas and probably by a fourth, which would have been near Jorba. All of them were connected to the extensive Roman road network by a secondary route starting in Barcelona, passing through Martorell and carrying on towards Lleida and Zaragoza. The principal town in the area was Sigarra (today Els Prats de Rei), just over 10 km north of the Òdena valley.