La Casanova (Monistrol de Calders)

La Casanova is an abandoned masia (a traditional Catalan farmhouse) in the municipality of Monistrol de Calders, in the Moianès region of Catalonia. Although the building stands in ruins today, its story illustrates how the rural landscape of this part of Catalonia came to be.

Where is La Casanova located?

The farmhouse sits south of the centre of Monistrol de Calders, at an altitude of roughly 538 metres, right on the southern edge of the Masia del Solà urbanisation. It lies just west of the masia of l'Om, separated from it by the riera de l'Om, a small stream typical of the hilly, water-cut terrain of Moianès. The building stands on the south-western slope of a hill known as Serrat de les Serveres, surrounded by the woodland and former farmland characteristic of the area.

Where does the name come from?

The farmhouse's older name, Casa Nova de l'Om — literally the "new house of the l'Om family" — explains its origin. It was built by a fadristern, a younger son of the l'Om family who, under the traditional Catalan system of inheritance (the hereu system), did not inherit the family's main farmhouse. Instead, he built his own home on nearby land, a pattern repeated across rural Catalonia, where the family estate passed to a single heir while other children had to establish new households. Over time "Casa Nova" was shortened and altered into today's "La Casanova".

What condition is the building in today?

La Casanova currently stands in ruins. It shares this fate with many other masies across Moianès and rural Catalonia more broadly: as traditional farming and herding declined through the twentieth century, isolated farmhouses were gradually abandoned and their structures fell into disrepair. For anyone interested in Catalan rural architecture and the history of scattered farmstead settlement, places like this are a tangible trace of an older way of managing the land.

What else is worth knowing about the area?

Monistrol de Calders lies within Moianès, a small administrative region (comarca) created in 2015 out of territory previously belonging to Bages, on the edge of Barcelona province. The landscape here is markedly rural — hills, oak and pine woodland, river valleys, and scattered farmhouses, some still lived in and farmed, others, like La Casanova, left to decay. Moianès draws visitors looking for hiking and quiet countryside away from Catalonia's busier coast. Monistrol de Calders itself has kept its small, agricultural character, and its landscape is shaped in large part by historic farmhouses of exactly this kind.

Frequently Asked Questions

What is La Casanova in Monistrol de Calders? It is a former masia, or Catalan farmhouse, standing south of the village of Monistrol de Calders, now in ruins.

Where does the name La Casanova come from? It derives from the older name Casa Nova de l'Om, the "new house" built by a younger son (fadristern) of the neighbouring l'Om family, who did not inherit the main family farmhouse.

Can visitors explore the ruins today? The building is in a ruined state on land near Monistrol de Calders; it is not a formally managed tourist attraction, so anyone considering a visit should check local access rules first.

Why does a ruined farmhouse like La Casanova matter? Abandoned masies like this one are physical evidence of Catalonia's traditional land-inheritance system and its pattern of scattered rural settlement, both strongly present in the Moianès region.