On the coast, formed in the territorial division
of 1936 around the city of Barcelona,
the smallest in size, but by far the most highly
populated. It stretches along the Barcelona plain,
at the foot of the Collserola
sierra, between the Llobregat
and Besòs deltas.
The history of the Barcelonès is identified
with that of the city of Barcelona which, because
of its geographical location at the crossroads of
all the main highways, was inevitably the capital
of Catalonia from early Roman times. It was the
centre of an important diocese and mediaeval county,
the county of Barcelona, the nucleus around which
Catalonia was structured.
The city was one of the main economic centres of the
Western Mediterranean in the Middle Ages and from
the end of the 17th century became the engine of the
Industrial Revolution. Those moments of splendour
explain the flowering of the Gothic style and Modernism,
the artistic symbols of Barcelona. The city is a tourist
destination of the first rank and has a complete infrastructure.
The other towns, which have grown thanks to their
proximity to the metropolis, have no comparable heritage,
with the exception of Badalona,
a city which already flourished in Roman times.
