Viladrau
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		Information Viladrau Extension: 51 km2 Population: 866 h [1996] Municipality in Osona, in the contact zone between Les Guilleries and the Montseny. The area expands along the septentrional slopes of the Matagalls (1,694 m alt) and of the Sant Marçal col, to the Fàbrega mount (749 m) and Puig-l'agulla (810 m). It includes the head of the Major stream, which collects the waters from the Matagalls and the Sant Segimon massif. The territory is very mountainous, with important oak, chestnut, beech woods, some fir trees and grazing-grounds (there is still in the Matagalls a co-ownership and common land system with a by-law from 1833). Amethyst and baryta jaciments had been exploited in the Rigròs hollow, near the Sant Marçal col. The agriculture has not much importance (only the 3.6% of the lands was cultivated in 1991). The main crops are the cereals, the potatoes, the legumes and the fruit trees; the cattle, especially the ovine, has more entity. The 56% of the area is occupied by wood, and its exploitation has a considerable importance. The industrial activity is almost the economy. In fact, the summer holiday and second residence role were already relevant in the beginning of the 20th century; later on there has been added the weekend tourism, appealed by the natural park landscapes of the Montseny. There are numerous villas and chalets, apart from two hotels, four hostels and residences which, all together, in 1991 made up for 270 rooms. In 1994 a polo field was inaugurated there. Among the old and important farmhouses the outstanding ones are the Espinzella, where there resided the lords of the Taradell castle, the Sala, family mansion of Joan de Serrallonga, Can Gat, the Vila, Masvidal, the Pujol de Muntanya, the Noguer, the Noguera, Rosquelles, the Bofill and Molins. The village (pop. 613 inh [1991]; 821 m alt), on the right side of the Major stream, is sheltered under the crest line going from the Bordoriol col to the Gomares small col. The parish church (Saint Martin), already mentioned in 898, was renovated in Romanesque period (there remains part of the atrium vestibule or galilea), and later on in 1769. It belonged to the barony of Taradell, also called de Taradell i Viladrau, which were ruled by two mayors. The locality became in the first half of the 20th century, thanks to the bound of J.Bofill i Mates (author of La Muntanya d'Ametistes) with Rosquelles, and of J.Bofill i Ferro with Ca l'Herbolari, a meeting place for many intellectuals and writers (Josep Carner, Carles Riba, Marià Manent, Duran i Sanpere, etc); during the civil war (1938), in front of the bombardment danger in Barcelona, the Catalonia General Archive was looked after in five population houses. The municipality includes, besides, the farmhouses of Vilarmau and of Pujol de Muntanya, and the neighbourhoods of the Índies, the Corts, the Paitides and Masvidal, the sanctuaries of the Erola and Sant Segimon del Montseny and the hermitage of Sant Miquel dels Barretons. El Montseny Mountain mass belonging to the Pre-Littoral Mountain Range between El Vallès Oriental, La Selva and Osona. It is formed by two main blocks: in the north the block formed by the alignment Turó de l'Home-Matagalls (1,707 m and 1,695 m high), and in the south-west the block of the Pla de la Calma, a pre-Triassic peneplain (1,350 m high), that preserves its former relief thanks to the cover of Triassic sandstones. It is a German-like folded massif, overlooking the depression of El Vallès. Numerous faults are cleaving it: one goes from Gualba to Campins, towards Vilamajor and La Garriga; another one on the northern side forms the separation between this massif and the one of Les Guilleries, going through the Arbúcies and Major streams towards Viladrau; the interior fault from El Brull up to Sant Esteve de Palautordera; and westwards the line traced by the Picamena or Avençó stream and El Congost, that separates this block from La Plana de Vic and the cliffs of Bertí. Paleozoic rocks are dominating, raised by a granite batholite that sticks out especially at the northern slopes. Westwards, up to Tagamanent and the Pla de la Calma near El Brull, at the foot of the Matagalls mount, Triassic sandstones limestones lie over the Paleozoic rocks. Erosion has been active cutting materials, polishing them and transporting them, accentuating the steepness of the slopes on the shadowy sides, which correspond with the reversed slopes of the Silurian layers. The quaternary climate, contemporary to the glacial Pyrenean periods, here called peri-glacial, has been very effective on the schistose soils and has left a clear track on them. The climate is now rainy, and in winter the snow falls over the upper spots, an amount of 1,040 mm over the Turó de l'Home, 1,200 mm over Santa Fe and 830 mm over Palautordera. Temperatures are low, with an annual average of 6.6ºC at the top, where the minus 10ºC can be easily reached on some winter days.