Passatge de Sert
The charming alleyway that’s one of the city’s best-kept secrets
Hidden in the Sant Pere neighborhood, this alleyway goes unnoticed by many visitors, making it one of Barcelona’s best-kept secrets. Passatge Sert was the path that crossed one of the city’s most important textile factories, owned by a family that produced one of the most influential Catalan architects of the 20th century.
Barcelona Bus Turístic, on the Hola Barcelona app
Your app for visiting the city with the Barcelona Bus Turístic: routes, stops and the most iconic places. A comfortable way to carry your tickets too!
Why visit Passatge de Sert?
Passatge Sert connects Trafalgar Street with Sant Pere Més Alt Street, right on the border between the Eixample and Ciutat Vella. Its origins date back to 1753, the year the Canaleta printed cotton factory was founded. Between 1865 and 1867, the company Bonaventura Solà & Co., later Sert Bros. & Solà, acquired the building. It was the Sert family who demolished the original estate to turn it into a house-factory with an interior passageway. This passage has gone from being a hidden and run-down corner to becoming a charming little spot, far from the city center’s hustle and bustle.
In this very passage, the painter Josep Maria Sert was born in 1874. He was the author of murals in the Vic Cathedral, Barcelona City Hall, and the dining room of the Waldorf Astoria in New York. He was also the uncle of one of the most influential Catalan architects of the 20th century: Josep Lluís Sert, a renovator of Catalan architecture, pioneer of rationalism, prominent member of GATPAC, and author of works such as the Miró Foundation and the Anti-Tuberculosis Dispensary.
How to get to Passatge Sert?
You can reach Passatge Sert from the Gothic Quarter stop on the Red Route of the Barcelona Bus Turístic.
For the curious
- Between the 18th and early 20th centuries, Barcelona became a major industrial center. In Ciutat Vella alone, 130 buildings with this use have been documented, many of them dedicated to textiles. The ultimate expression of this was the house-factory, where housing and industry shared space. The Sert factory, now converted into luxury apartments, is one example.
- If you’re visiting the Palau de la Música, it’s worth making a stop at this passage, where you won’t be bothered by cars or bikes and where silence reigns.
