La Vilella Alta is one of the most authentic, almost untouched villages of the Priorat, on a hill by the Escaladei stream and ringed by the Montsant and Figuera mountains. It was founded in 1286 by the Carthusian monks of Escaladei, who relocated there the inhabitants of the now-vanished settlement of Montalt, and it prospered on wine until the 1884 phylloxera cut its population from around 600 to just over a hundred; today it still numbers around 130.
A walk through the village takes in the Carrer Major with its stone portals, loopholes cut into the walls during the Carlist wars — when the church served as a small fort — and the Font Vella and Font Àvia springs, now recreational spots crossed by the GR 7-4 trail. The 18th-century parish church of Santa Llúcia, neoclassical with baroque touches, has a choir attached to the bell tower and holds an old altarpiece. The cooperative winery, founded in 1933, offers arbequina olive-oil visits.
The village celebrates Santa Prisca on 18 January, its summer festival on the last weekend of July, and Santa Llúcia on 13 December.
- Best forauthentic-villages, wine, olive-oil, hiking
- OpeningVillage accessible year-round; town-hall office open Monday, Wednesday, Friday 10:00-15:00
- AddressPlaça de l'Era, 1, 43375 la Vilella Alta
- Phone977 83 93 75
Imatge: Pere López Brosa · CC BY-SA 4.0 · Wikimedia Commons
Sources: ca.wikipedia.org · turismepriorat.org · vilellaalta.altanet.org
Last updated: August 2026