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In many villages of the Pyrenees everything is possible during the night when they celebrate the Festes del Foc, or Festivals of Fire. This ancestral tradition brings all the families and neighbours together on the night of Sant Joan to watch the magical light of the bonfires, the falles, the haros and the brandons.
 

The fire of Les Falles del Pirineu (or Torches of the Pyrenees) is burnt to coincide with the summer solstice as a symbol of renewal and life. The fire-bearers carry it down from the mountains using the Falles (or wooden torches) which they have prepared themselves. Thus, like a snake of light that descends the mountain, the fire of Sant Joan reaches the town square and the bonfire is lit around which the town dances all night.
 

The celebration is particular to each locality, and the fact is that there are up to sixty-three villages between Catalonia, Aragon, Andorra and the South of France that share in this age-old tradition. All of these have been on UNESCO's List of Intangible Heritage since 2015.

A white house beneath an intense blue sky, the chicken coop in the background, farm tools, vegetation and life all around. This is how Joan Miró portrays Mas Miró in oil, the place where he made the decision to devote his life fully to painting.

 

Although the painter was born in Barcelona and died in Palma, he spent long periods in the family home, located on the outskirts of Mont-roig del Camp. It is here that he allowed himself to be captivated by rural life and established his bond with the Catalan countryside, which would forever mark the character of the artist and, in turn, his work as a painter.
 

Mas Miró comprises the set of satellite buildings around a farmhouse in the colonial-style, built at different times between the 18th and 20th centuries. The visit to the complex, listed as a Cultural Asset of National Interest, allows you to enter the artist's studio, discover his sketches and materials, tour the garden in which the chicken coop, the chapel, the agricultural land and the farmyard are preserved.
 

A walk through this environment – taking advantage, if you wish, of the activities offered by the Mas Miró Foundation - is the ideal experience in which to discover the cradle of the symbolic style that today we all recognize as belonging to Miró and which made him into one of the most important painters of the 20th century.

The chance to stroll through the original magnificent interior of a modernista mansion all comes down to the buildings. One of the best preserved is Casa Navàs in Reus.
 

On the corner, flanking Plaça del Mercadal, is the boutique house of the Navàs-Blasco family, one of the most luxurious works designed by the architect Lluís Domènech i Montaner. The facade of the building remains majestic despite having been damaged during the bombings of the Civil War. The real treasure, however, is to be found in the interior rooms that will amaze lovers of Modernisme. Craftsmanship of the highest level can be found in every corner of the house: coloured stained glass windows, wall paintings, ceramics with floral motifs, silk tapestries and furniture produced by the most renowned cabinetmakers of the time.
 

If there is one place that will tell you what the lifestyle of the Roman elites must have been like, it is here at Els Munts Villa.
 

The luxurious residence of one of the most important officials of Tàrraco has stood atop a hill near Altafulla beach since the second century AD. In this idyllic location, the remains of a large complex are on display: the baths, the residential area, buildings for agricultural work and even the remains of a mithrae for cult rituals.
 

The splendour of many of the sculptures found at the site can be admired at the National Archaeological Museum of Tarragona. The paintings and mosaics are preserved on site and can be discovered as you walk around the villa.
 

In addition to being one of the best-preserved aristocratic villas in Roman Hispania, Els Munts is surrounded by other sites that together make up the Tarraco archaeological complex, included in the UNESCO World Heritage List in 2000.