Torredembarra, in the Tarragona region, will host a series of events from 14 to 16 May as part of the 28th Tarraco Viva Festival. This international cultural festival, held in Tarragona since 1998, specialises in the historical dissemination of the Roman era.
For the second consecutive year, Torredembarra joins as a collaborating municipality, offering a programme that includes a documentary screening, a conference, and guided visits to a Roman villa. These activities aim to bring Roman history closer to residents and visitors.
Roman Engineering and Local Monuments
The festival programme in Torredembarra starts on 14 May at 7pm in the Pati del Castell with a screening of the documentary "ROMAN ENGINEERING: CITIES". Directed by José Antonio Muñiz, this film was previously shown at the Bidasoa Archaeological Film Festival. It explores the Roman genius in engineering, particularly their aqueducts, using computer simulations and real images to explain the technical resources behind ancient water supply systems. The 57-minute documentary is in Spanish and offers free entry, subject to venue capacity, according to Torredembarra officials.
On 15 May, also at 7pm in the Pati del Castell, Joaquín Ruiz de Arbulo, a professor of Archaeology at Rovira i Virgili University (URV), will deliver a conference on the Arc de Berà and the Torre dels Escipions. Architect Ferran Gris's new photogrammetric restitutions of these monuments will be presented. These images have allowed for detailed study, proposing their original polychromy and offering clearer explanations of their function.
According to Ruiz de Arbulo, the work on the Arc de Berà follows Xavier Dupré's monograph, which correctly identifies its dedicatee, L. Licini Sura, as an Augustan-era figure. The Torre dels Escipions has been defined as the cenotaph of L. Marci Optato, a young equestrian order member from Tarraco who helped found the municipality of Iluro (Mataró) during the Augustan period. This conference is also free to attend, with capacity limits.
Exploring a Roman Villa and Legionary Life
The final day, 16 May, features two distinct events at the Vil·la Romana del Moro. At 5pm and 6pm, Josep Anton Remolà Vallverdú, an archaeologist from the National Archaeological Museum of Tarragona (MNAT) and URV, will lead guided tours of the site. Remolà Vallverdú directed the archaeological excavations from 1998 to 2002 and the research project on the villa from 2006 to 2010.
The Vil·la Romana del Moro, located on the outskirts of Torredembarra's urban centre, is unique for showing the remains of two archaeologically superimposed Roman villas. Discovered remains include structures from a Republican-era phase (mid-1st century AD), such as six rooms that formed part of a thermal complex, and a later Augustan period villa with a peristyle and porticoed garden. The villa appears to have been in use until an unspecified time between the second half of the 2nd and first half of the 3rd century. Entry is free, with two groups of a maximum of 25 people each. Registration is required by email to [email protected] on a first-come, first-served basis.
Later on 16 May, at 7pm, Projecte Phoenix will present a historical re-enactment titled "CASTRA LEGIONIS: Life in the Roman Legions" at the Vil·la Romana del Moro. This activity moves away from typical battle scenes to show the daily life of Roman legionaries in a camp, including their work, feelings, and aspirations. Most of a legionary's day was spent in barracks or tents, performing duties like guard service, training, repairs, and administrative tasks. They had some free time for cooking, cleaning equipment, playing games, or writing to family and friends, often thousands of kilometres away.
Through original documents and letters found across the Roman Empire, the re-enactment aims to convey the legionaries' voices and fears. One example is the legionary Apollinaris, who wrote to his mother, "Whenever I remember you, I neither eat nor drink, but cry!" Access to the villa for this free event is via Carrer Iluro and Carrer Roma.
The Torredembarra Town Council, through its Department of Culture and Cultural Heritage, is organising these events. Further details about the festival are available on the Tarraco Viva website.
