Barcelona, barri a barri A living atlas of the 73 neighbourhoods

Horta-Guinardó · 34

Can Baró

Can Baró grew from a farmhouse with a 1674 lintel on the south slope of the Turó de la Rovira, and its streets keep the layers that followed: the journalists' villas of 1918, the quarries that left hollows, and the shacks that lasted until 1990.[1][2][3][4]

Begin in Plaça de Can Baró, beside the farmhouse that gives the neighbourhood its name. The date 1674 is cut into the stone lintel of the door, believed to mark the renovation of an older house; today the farmhouse is a school.[1]

Can Baró spreads along the south slope of the Turó de la Rovira as far as Avinguda de la Mare de Déu de Montserrat. It began with a farmhouse whose owners sold off parts of the estate, and that is how the neighbourhood was built.[3]

It belonged to Sant Martí de Provençals, which joined Barcelona in 1897. The journalists' villas, the quarries, the cooperative blocks and the shacks left very different layers on a single slope.[3][4]

Can Baró (neighbourhood 34) highlighted. Other neighbourhoods in Horta-Guinardó: el Baix Guinardó, el Guinardó, el Carmel, la Teixonera, Sant Genís dels Agudells, Montbau.

Where the name comes from

Etymology: certain[1][2]

Can means “house of”, and Baró is the noble title given to it by its former owners. The tower used to be called d'en Conill and, from 1498, d'Aguilar; according to Catalan Wikipedia the present name comes from Dalmau d'Ivorra, baron of Cervelló and lord of Sant Vicenç dels Horts, and the MUHBA says the lordly name was given by the barons of Sant Vicenç.[1][2]

It borders the Guinardó along Carrer de Francesc Alegre to the east, the Baix Guinardó at Plaça de la Font Castellana to the south, and la Salut at Plaça Sanllehy to the west; to the north it meets el Carmel, on the Turó de la Rovira.[3][5]

Before the neighbourhood

The first known owner of the tower, Bernat Conill, already held it in 1390, which is why it was called the torre d'en Conill. In 1498 it was bought by Joan Berenguer d'Aguilar, who also gave his name to the mountain, the puig d'Aguilar; Jeroni Vila bought it in 1593.[1][2]

In 1737 the barons' heir sold the estate to the Barcelona doctor Francesc Sampere for 9,000 lliures. By the mid-nineteenth century the old name puig d'Aguilar had given way to Turó de la Rovira.[1][2]

How the streets were made

In 1918 building began on the farmhouse lands. On the initiative of the Cooperativa de Periodistes about sixty villas were built, known as the Barri dels Periodistes.[3][4]

The quarries, active until 1967, left huge hollows that break up the neighbourhood. In 1969 the Cooperativa Gracienca d'Habitatges bought the ground of one quarry and built two blocks with 360 homes there, and in 1991 the Pont de Mühlberg restored a street that the quarry had cut.[3][4][6]

Dates that changed it

  1. 1390 Bernat Conill already owns the tower that will become Can Baró, then the torre d'en Conill.[1][2]
  2. 1498 Joan Berenguer d'Aguilar buys the tower, which comes to be called d'Aguilar, like the mountain.[1][2]
  3. 1674 Date inscribed on the lintel of the farmhouse door, believed to mark a renovation.[1]
  4. 1737 The barons' heir sells the estate to the doctor Francesc Sampere for 9,000 lliures.[1][2]
  5. 1918 Building begins on the farmhouse lands; the Cooperativa de Periodistes builds about sixty villas.[3][4]
  6. 1936–1939 During the Civil War anti-aircraft batteries are installed on the summit of the Turó de la Rovira.[7][3]
  7. 1967–1969 The Can Baró quarries stop working in 1967; in 1969 the Cooperativa Gracienca d'Habitatges builds two blocks with 360 homes on one of them.[3][4]
  8. 1990–1991 The last shacks on Carrer de Francesc Alegre are pulled down in 1990; the Pont de Mühlberg is built in March 1991.[3][6][4]

People and collective life

Shack residents of Francesc Alegre

By 1990 the last of the more than 300 shacks on Francesc Alegre, without water, electricity or sewers, had been pulled down; the residents themselves had campaigned for improvements since the late 1960s.[3]

Cooperativa de Periodistes

From 1918 it promoted about sixty villas on the farmhouse lands, the Barri dels Periodistes.[3][4]

Institutions

ACIS Artur Martorell

The school occupies the Can Baró farmhouse, catalogued as a building with elements of interest (category C).[1]

MUHBA Turó de la Rovira

A heritage space of the Museu d'Història de Barcelona with the remains of an anti-aircraft battery and traces of the shantytown, at Marià Labèrnia s/n.[7][3]

Struggles that left a mark

The Francesc Alegre shacks

Demand: More than 300 shacks without water, electricity or sewers; the residents demanded improvements from the late 1960s.[3]

Outcome: The struggle lasted until 1990, when the last shacks on Carrer de Francesc Alegre were pulled down.[3]

The quarries

Demand: Neighbours reported the quarrying for years, mainly through the Agrupación de propietarios del monte Carmelo.[4]

Outcome: A municipal report in 1931 found the extraction to be illegal, but the Can Baró quarries went on until 1967.[4]

What can still be seen

Can Baró farmhouse

Catalogued as a building with elements of interest (category C); it carries the date 1674 on its stone lintel and a sundial on the façade.[1]

MUHBA Turó de la Rovira

It keeps the remains of a Civil War anti-aircraft battery and traces of the shantytown, two successive uses of the same summit.[7][3]

What disappeared

The working quarries

The Can Baró quarries were worked until 1967; no stone is cut now, but the hollows remain.[3][4]

The shacks

The Los Cañones, Raimon Casellas and Francesc Alegre areas lasted into the 1980s, and the last shacks were pulled down in 1990.[3]

The neighbourhood today

Can Baró had 9,645 residents in 2026, 251.2 people per hectare, mean census-section income of €23,797 in 2023, 38.4 hectares, and 22.1% non-Spanish nationality.

Non-Spanish nationality (2026): 22.1%

What is changing

In July 2025 the Horta-Guinardó district presented a plan to renaturalise the Tres Turons park (the Turó del Carmel, Turó de la Rovira and Turó del Coll), mostly in the Carmel: reorganise the paths, manage rainwater against erosion and plant native vegetation, with a planned investment of €4.3 million. The announcement spoke of drafting executive projects and gave no works dates.[8]

What the guides leave out

A bridge raised in a week

The Pont de Mühlberg, about 70 metres long, restored in 1991 the continuity of Carrer de Mühlberg, which the quarry had wiped out; its metal structure went up in a single week.[6][4]

A name that hides earlier ones

Before it was Can Baró the tower was called d'en Conill and then d'Aguilar, and the mountain was the puig d'Aguilar before it became the Turó de la Rovira.[1][2]

Read it on foot

Start: Alfons X (L4) · End: MUHBA Turó de la Rovira[7][3]

Walking (excluding stop time): 11 min · 830 m · Estimated visit (with stops): 37 min

The geometry follows the pedestrian network between the three marked points, but it has not been verified as step-free; the neighbourhood has steep slopes. The approach from public transport is not included in the stated distance.

Can Baró (neighbourhood 34) highlighted. Other neighbourhoods in Horta-Guinardó: el Baix Guinardó, el Guinardó, el Carmel, la Teixonera, Sant Genís dels Agudells, Montbau.

1
Masia de Can Baró
Masia de Can Baró, Plaça de Can Baró
Look on the stone lintel of the door for the date 1674 and, on the façade, for the sundial that the heritage catalogue records.[1][2]
Formerly the torre d'en Conill and then d'Aguilar, the estate took the name Can Baró from the barons of Sant Vicenç; in 1737 the barons' heir sold it to the doctor Francesc Sampere. Today it is the ACIS Artur Martorell school.[1][2]
Coordinates
41.41643, 2.16252 · OpenStreetMap
2
Pont de Mühlberg
Pont de Mühlberg, Carrer de Mühlberg
460 m · 6 min
Cross the metal footbridge, about 70 metres long, and look down into the void the quarry left.[6][4]
It went up in a week in March 1991, the work of municipal architect Ignasi de Lecea, to restore Carrer de Mühlberg, which the quarry had cut.[6][4]
Coordinates
41.41864, 2.16189 · OpenStreetMap
3
MUHBA Turó de la Rovira
Carrer de Marià Labèrnia s/n
370 m · 5 min
On the hilltop look for the remains of the anti-aircraft battery and the traces of the shacks, then look over the city from the spot where the defence was set up.[7][3]
The Museu d'Història de Barcelona keeps the remains of a Civil War anti-aircraft battery and traces of the shantytown here; access is from Carrer de Marià Labèrnia s/n.[7][3]
Coordinates
41.41948, 2.16238 · OpenStreetMap

Sources for this page

Dates, figures and historical claims are linked to the records used for this page.

  1. [1] Viquipèdia (2026). Can Baró (Barcelona). Accessed: 2026-10-03.
  2. [2] Jesús Burgueño, MUHBA (2026). Fites, creus i noms de lloc. Els termes de Barcelona i dels municipis agregats. Accessed: 2026-10-03.
  3. [3] Viquipèdia (2026). Barri de Can Baró. Accessed: 2026-10-03.
  4. [4] Viquipèdia (2026). Pedreres de Can Baró. Accessed: 2026-10-03.
  5. [5] Ajuntament de Barcelona — Open Data BCN (2026). Barris (administrative units layer); adjacency computed by the editors from the boundary polygons. Accessed: 2026-10-09.
  6. [6] Viquipèdia (2026). Pont de Mühlberg. Accessed: 2026-10-03.
  7. [7] MUHBA, Museu d'Història de Barcelona (2024). La primera balconada (itinerari) and school visit 'Barcelona al límit'. Accessed: 2026-10-03.
  8. [8] Ajuntament de Barcelona, Districte d'Horta-Guinardó (2025-07-10). Un pla per renaturalitzar el parc dels Tres Turons. Accessed: 2026-10-03.
  9. [9] Ajuntament de Barcelona — Open Data BCN (2026-01-01). Padró municipal d'habitants (pad_mdbas) — població per barri. Accessed: 2026-07-17.
  10. [10] Ajuntament de Barcelona — Open Data BCN (2021). Densitat de població per barri. Accessed: 2026-07-17.
  11. [11] Ajuntament de Barcelona — Open Data BCN (2023). Renda disponible de les llars per persona. Seccions censals. Accessed: 2026-07-17.

Last reviewed: 3 October 2026 · 11 sources consulted

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