Alt Camp, Baix Camp and Tarragonès together
make up Camp de Tarragona.
Alt Camp is a broad coastal plain ringed by the
mountains of the pre-coastal range, which include
the upper Gaià valley and the middle Francolí
valley. The two rivers, which rise in Conca de Barberà,
flow down through the steep hills that frame the
plain south-east to north-west: the Prades mountains,
the Miramar, Cogulló, Comaverd, Brufaganya
and Plana d’Ancosa ranges. In the Middle Ages,
these were the domains of the Archbishop of Tarragona,
the Cistercian monastery of Santes
Creus and the county of Prades.
Valls, the capital, and
Alcover were the towns
with the largest population and the busiest trade.
Agriculture, particularly vines (there are a large
number of cooperative vineyards), and trade (fairs
and markets) have given way in modern times to a highly
diversified industrialisation. Tourism, which had
traditionally been relatively unimportant, has grown
thanks to the architectural heritage (Santes Creus
and the Cistercian Route), the variety of folklore
(the human towers of Valls), gastronomy (calçotades:
roasted spring onion feasts) and the mild climate.
