Teresa Saleta de Noguer

Teresa Saleta de Noguer was born in 1852 in Tordera, daughter of Josep Saleta de Noguer and Escolástica de Noguer Salita. She lived in Sant Hilari as the sole representative of the Salita de la Vila family and had two younger sisters, Maria Dolors and Assumpció, who died very young (at 10 and 11 years old respectively), in 1871.

She married lawyer Francesc Martorell, with whom she had no children, leaving her cousin Maria Dolors Olives (who was married to Joaquim Ribot y Casabó) as her heir.

One of the major projects of Teresa Saleta, along with her husband, was the expansion of the Font Picant spa, inaugurated in 1881. With this remodeling, completed in 1895, the establishment achieved the structure it still maintains today: five floors, with capacity for 100 rooms and 250 dining spots, a party room and theater, several dining rooms, etc. It also had a postal service and telephone line linking to Hostalric and, since 1894, electricity. Notably, since the spa required a lot of energy, they built a dam to generate their own electricity and, as it produced more than it consumed, they decided to divert the surplus to the town.

This expansion ensured that the building had all the amenities expected of a prestigious spa. As a result, it attracted more clients and became a popular destination for the Catalan bourgeoisie. This center was also a pioneer, ahead of other towns famous for their waters, such as Santa Coloma de Farners and Caldes de Malavella. Between 1887 and 1891, more than a thousand “patients” were treated at the spa. Along with this increase in demand, the construction of inns, hotels, and shops in Sant Hilari also boomed. The spa hosted aristocrats, bourgeois, soldiers, priests, artists like Santiago Rusiñol and Ramon Casas, and politicians such as Manuel Azaña, Lluís Companys, and Francesc Macià. Finally, it closed during the Civil War and became the Carrabiners Hospital.

Teresa Saleta also ordered the construction of the Mansolí Nou chapel next to the spa, as some found the Mansolí Vell chapel too far away.

Other works carried out by Teresa Saleta included the construction of a convent managed by the Carmelite sisters, which later served as a girls’ education center, and the creation of a public fountain to help combat periodic cholera and typhus outbreaks.

The last known action of Teresa Saleta was requesting permits to channel water from the Vilavella pothole to the Salita de la Vila house.

In 1912, Teresa Saleta passed away at the age of 60 (her husband had died in 1905). She was a woman who, through her actions, helped establish Sant Hilari as a reference town as the first summer resort in Catalonia. A Catholic, entrepreneurial, and pioneering woman who helped the town evolve, modernize, grow, and find new ways of life.