﻿ José Luís Espejo - Belvedere of La Gioconda in Martorell

Belvedere of La Gioconda in Martorell

Dear friend. I invite you to walk along the route of La Gioconda in Martorell, using the itinerary exposed by Professor Alfred Mauri in his blog:

http://caminsambhistoria.blogspot.com.es/2014_05_01_archive.html/ (Tuesday, May 13, 2014)

Alfred Mauri, Professor of archival science at the Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona, is a connoisseur of the landscape and the history of Martorell. It is the "alma mater" of the Centre d'Estudis Martorellencs, founded in 1972.

To what is written by Professor Mauri, with whom I had the opportunity to make the route described above, I have to add the following:

(1) A person who is not willing to walk all the way, and especially to climb the path of strong slope to reach the Giconda Observatory from the bridge in Martorell, I recommend to park in the nearby village of Valldaina, located not far from the belvedere, which is reached by a road that begins in the industrial area of Can Sunyer, in Sant Adrià del Besòs. See the following image:










Red color, route by car. In black, route by foot (no slopes)








1. Bridge of the Devil (Martorell). 2. Belvedere of La Gioconda. 3. Path of La Gioconda (in red color). 4. The Roca Dreta. 5. Rocks of La Gioconda (rocks of El Matauet). 6. Castle and monastery of Rocafort (see below).

(2) the route has a certain difficulty only in the descent and subsequent ascent to the castle of Sant Genis de Rocafort. As the path of descent hasn't been "sweetened", building a bridge that allows the comfortable access to the rear of the castle of Rocafort, it is preferable not to include it in the route; unless you are used to climb up the rock.

The image of Leonardo detailing this place with its name (Rocafor) is found in the Codex Madrid II (folio 4 recto).



















In this regard, see the following article: Leonardo in Rocafort (Martorell).

(3) Finally, if you don't go down the path of Rocafort, it is preferable to take the path of roca Dreta, which arrives to the centre of the old town of Martorell.

I hope you have a happy journey. No doubt you will enjoy the thrill that exerts the weight of history (we are speaking of the Mona Lisa), but also the unique beauties of the landscape of the Serra de l'Ataix, in Martorell.