Castell del Montgrí
Castle · Girona
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Four corner towers and a 31 metre square of wall stand on the bare limestone summit, visible for miles across the flat Empordà plain, and that is the whole of it: work began in 1294 and the fortress was never completed. Barcelona ordered it built to watch the counts of Empúries, who ruled most of the land around Torroella; the quarrel passed, the strategic value went with it, and what remains is the symbol of the region.
Bernat de Llabià, governor of Torroella, directed the work on the ground, answering to a royal command aimed squarely at Ponç V, the Count of Empúries, who refused to recognise Aragonese rule. The stone came from the massif itself: quarry pits and cutting marks left by the medieval masons are still visible in the rock around the castle, tracing where the blocks for its 31 metre square walls and four 15 metre corner towers were cut. The last medieval record of the castle dates to 1413, a mention of the Llevià family, after which it disappears from the documentary record. The GR 92 long-distance footpath passes directly below the castle, tracing the Mediterranean coast of Spain on its stage between Sant Martí d'Empúries and Torroella de Montgrí.
What you see
The unfinished castle crowns the bare limestone summit of the Montgrí massif, its four round corner towers visible for miles across the flat Empordà plain.
Practical
Reached on foot only: no paved road climbs to the castle, and the final stretch beyond the Ermita de Santa Caterina is an unpaved track.
castlehilltop viewpointunfinished castlemedieval fortress