Hotels in Vilopriu

Vilopriu

Vilopriu is a small rural municipality in the north-west of the Baix Empordà, on the edge of the Gironès and the Alt Empordà. Besides the village of Vilopriu itself, it takes in the villages of Gaüses and Pins and the hamlet of Valldevià; Pins and Gaüses were joined to the municipality in 1846. The first written record of the place, as Villa Elpirici, dates from 959. In 1216 Count Hug IV of Empúries ordered a new castle to be built where an older fortress had stood, and its keep can still be seen. The castle soon passed to the Palol family, who rarely lived there, and in the early sixteenth century a great hall was built over the old courtyard, with two fine paired Gothic windows. The castle remained with the Palol family's descendants until the twentieth century, when it passed to the town council. The parish church of Sant Pere de Vilopriu is documented from 1078. The municipality has several more churches: Sant Bartomeu in Pins, Sant Mateu de Valldevià, Santa Maria de Gaüses and the hermitage of Sant Roc in the Gaüses woods. Its few houses are spread among fields and woodland, and the village has a municipal swimming pool. It suits travellers looking for a quiet countryside base in the Empordà, within reach of the Costa Brava beaches.