Badalona

Badalona is a Mediterranean coastal city and municipality in Catalonia, Spain, on the left bank of the Besòs River just north east of Barcelona and part of the Barcelona metropolitan area. With 226,219 inhabitants in 2024 it is the fourth-largest city in Catalonia and the twenty-second largest in Spain. Its origins are usually dated to about 100 BC, when the Romans founded the town of Baetulo on the coast, a place known for wine exported across the empire. A medieval urban nucleus grew over the old Roman forum from the tenth century, and the present name is documented from 997. The railway to Barcelona arrived in 1848 and brought industrial growth and a large working class, and the settlement received the title of city in 1897 from the queen regent Maria Christina of Austria. Immigration under the Franco dictatorship pushed the population from about 92,200 in 1960 to about 201,200 fifteen years later.