Phisycal milieu

La Segarra is one of the 41 regions in Catalonia and occupies part of the high plateu which separates the coastal towns of Catalonia from the central depression on one hand and mountainous zone of the Pirineus on the other. There are four main rivers crossing the area, with little flow. They are called Llobregós, el Sió, l’Ondara and el Corb.The climate is very dry and continental.

Concerning the flora some shrubby formations of oak-groves are mixed with oak trees and white pine, which have moved back because of human action. Concerning the fauna apart from the typical animals of these latitudes (rabbits, foxes...) we can find alot of different birds both sedentary and migratory (you can find out in other activities the possibility of observing birds)

The human milieu: stones, villages, castles... are always present

La Segarra is a region marked by the fact of being a land of border for a long time, confluence of  different counties reconquest. This past is reflected in the urban development and architecture. A medieval past which must be connected with the modern period, specially in the 16^th century when la Segarra lived a period of prosperity. This is made obvious with the transformation of the primitive castles into noble palaces. During the modern periods a lot of villages lost their definitive profile with the construction of new housing and churches, or works of a great significance like the University of Cervera. No doudt the castles are the best tourist advertising slogan of la Segarra, land of  border and land of castles. Certainly, and beyond the cliché, the morphology og the region propiciated the birth of little nucleus of population all around the defensive constructions or Castrum during the medieval period. In the modern period reconciling the defensive function, the medieval castles are enlarged and reformed and they become genuine noble palaces, but this without losing the defensive character. The tower of Vallferosa, the highest in Catalonia, or the delightful castle of Les Sitges, or the castles of Florejacs, Les Pallargues, Moncortés or l’Aranyó are other good exemples.

It is possible to visit the catles of Les Pallargues and Florejacs, and near the region there are the castles of Montclar and Montsonís.

These castles which were border during the 1oth and 11^th centuries brought about, in theory, some churches related to the castle and all around it there will be different population centres. The Romanesque buildings –like Talteüll,l’Aguda or Cellers-, are distinguished, in a zone of defensive character where the churches at that time have an important repopulating role. This way, the churches make up the testimonial set of the medieval past in the region together with the remains of the firtification, villages and necropolis. But the arrival of the modern centuries will also leave a remarkable trace in the region: except for the monumental University of Cervera, one of the most important buildings of the civil architecture in Catalonia, a lot of villages will enlarge and build new and spacious parish churches, like the ones in Guissona or Granyena. La Segarra is distinguished for the big number of population centres, more than one hundred, as for the proximiyty between them-beteen Tarroja and Concabella there are only 5 quilometres and in this distance there are five villages. Albert Turull ( Història geogràfica de la Segarra 2001) says the reasons for this dispersion are both orographical ( broken terrain with not many plains) and historical (mainly the border character of this land during the 16^th century and this was the reason why multiple castles and defensive towers were built and became the origin of our villages)

The villages of la Segarra are classified by Turull in two different types: the villages in the hills and the ones in the valley, So we can say that the basic structure of the territory, even before the paths, depends on the orography and exactly on the valleys which hace furrowed little rivers for millenniums. From this part of the catalan central high plateau the rivers face west: to the north, el Llobregós, in the centre el Sió and to the south el Ondara. “ These basic valleys and other secondary ones ( the rivers or basins of Llanera, of Biosca, of Sanaüja between others) are the real articualtions of the territory. It is in these valleys where we find the villages called “of valley”, like Riber, Ratera, Sisteró; Pallerols, els Hostalets, Sant Pere dels Arquells or Vergós de la Ribera. Neither the villages placed in the hills ( even if they are near the river like Sedó) nor the villages placed in the high plateaus separating the several valleys or fluvial basins or in the lateral slopes belong to this typology. Talavera or les Olugues belong to the last group whereas villages like Sant Guim ( both Sant Guim de Freixenet and Sant Guim Vell o de la Rabassa), Sant Ramonand la Manresana, Vicfred or Montcortés are platter. But we can affirm taht in this land of  old castlesthe most villages are on a hill: Rubinat, la Guàrdia Lada, Montoliu, Granyena, Granyanella, Cervera, Montfalcó Murallat, Vergós Guerrejat, Alta-riba, Taltaüll, Palou, Guardia-si-venes... The list could be enlarged nearly until all the villages of la Segarra became exhausted (...) But, however, some of them are not classified yet: on one hand, for exemple, the important and very old village of Guissona, built in a plain with important flows of water, but without being placed near a river, and on the other hand a succession of villages with a flat structure but placed sheltered from a hill, where generally there was the castle dominating. This is the case of the three populations of the septentrional sector, on Llobregós valley: Torà, Biosca and Sanaüja” ( TURULL 2001, 74-75)