Well-to-do origins

This green area was originally the sumptuous garden that Ignasi Girona built on his Sarrià estate and named after his wife, Amèlia de Vilanova. The family used the Quinta Amèlia as a summer home for many years but in 1930, when Barcelona City Council designated the land as a public park, the estate was expropriated and the Girona family’s former residence was demolished. Part of the land now forms part of the neighbouring Vil·la Cecília Gardens, located on the other side of Carrer de Santa Amèlia.

A fusion of nature and art

Around fifty plant species grow in the gardens, but the ones that attract most attention are the trees listed in Barcelona’s Trees of Local Interest Catalogue, including a plane tree that is nearly 90 years old. There is a bronze figure of a Dryad, or tree nymph, in the middle of a pond. It is considered to be one of Ricard Sala’s finest sculptures. And nearby, there is an ephebe playing the flute, the Encantador de serps (Snake Charmer), a bronze sculpture by the Belgian artist Jules Anthone.