A municipality of the Maresme (Barcelona), between the Serra de Marina and the sea, which gives its name to the DO Alella. Documented since 975 in a contract for the sale of land in Premià, its parish of Sant Feliu is mentioned in 993.
Laietanian wine, 1st century AD (Pliny, Martial); praise from the senators: Pujades’s chronicle, 1609; Alella Vinícola syndicate 1906The Laietanian wine that, according to the chronicle, was praised by the senators of Rome
The Maresme coast was part of ancient Laietania, whose wine is mentioned by Pliny the Elder and Martial and which was shipped in amphorae to Rome from ports such as Baetulo (Badalona); very close to Alella, the Roman cella vinaria of Vallmora survives in Teià. On that basis, the chronicler Jeroni Pujades wrote in the early 17th century that the Roman senators counted the wines of Alella among the best and most famous of their time, a phrase the town repeats with pride. In the Middle Ages Alella’s vineyards supplied Barcelona with wine, and in 1906 fifty-four growers founded the Alella Vinícola syndicate, whose Modernista bodega by Jeroni Martorell still makes the white Marfil today.
Alive today: Alella gives its name to the DO Alella (Regulatory Council created in 1953), one of the smallest in Catalonia, with vineyards on granitic sauló soil and the pansa blanca grape. Every September since 1975 the Town Council has held the Festa de la Verema, with a harvest at Can Magarola and grape treading in the square. The Modernista bodega of 1906 (now Celler Marfil) and Bouquet d’Alella are still active.