Sant Miquel de les Formigues

Sant Miquel de Solterra or de les Formigues is the highest peak in Les Guilleries. In the past there was a small guard castle, demolished by the earthquakes that took place in the 15^th century. In the last century there was a church from which there is still a piece of wall.

The legend says that some fishermen found themselves in a great storm of rain, wind and fog. When they wanted to return, they were so desperate that they promised to build a chapel on the first peak they could see on the mainland. The first peak was Sant Miquel, where they built a chapel.

It is also said that, in the past, the ants (in Catalan, formigues) became owners of the mountain, had their underground nests and they accumulated there for no apparent reason. The small animals ran everywhere, both inside and outside the chapel, and they often climbed the altar that dominated the chapel, where there was an image of the holy angel, who in a peaceful attitude had his snake-shaped sword at rest, with its point low and fixed on the ground.

However, it turns out that an ant dared to climb on the saint’s leg and pinched him. From it, a drop of blood came out. The saint, very upset and angry, brandishing his sword in the air, spoke to condemn all the ants in the territory for that irreverence, and said that all the ants in the territory, even those who later accessed it, would die. That is why people said there were lots of dead ants at the foot of the current cross that guards the summit. That is why the chapel took its popular name from Sant Miquel de les Formigues and was never lost again.