Plaça d'Ocata

This square used to house the town’s open-air market and the other market was in the Plaça de la Constitució, known more recently as the old market.

In addition to the market, the Plaça de la Constitució would become the hub of public activity starting in 1848, when the railway lines crossed the public square bordering the road to Alella, now Avinguda Joan XXIII.

This decision made the residents of the Ocata neighbourhood displeased and competitive, and the town council promised to allocate the same resources to the Plaça d’Ocata. The first steps to open this new market started in 1853 and works for the butchers’ and fishmongers’ stalls were ready by 1873.

The main theory espoused on the origin of the name of Ocata is that it derived from the immigrant population from the town of Leucate in the district of Roussillon in France. Others postulate that it refers to Hekate, a Greek goddess.

In recent years, the Plaça d’Ocata has turned into a meeting place and site for celebrating the town’s social and cultural events. The square is also the access point to the Cresta and Malet underground aqueducts and the air-raid shelter built during the Spanish Civil War, which took advantage of the infrastructure of its many kilometres of galleries.