The Font de Canaletes is a cast-iron structure at the top of La Rambla. Its four spouts and four-branched lamp tend to go unnoticed – until Barça win. Since the mid-20th century it has been the gathering point for FC Barcelona supporters celebrating the team’s victories. Its origins, though, are far more modest: it was once a simple water fountain, with no connection to football or singing crowds. Today it is symbol, ritual and promise – those who drink from its waters, so the saying goes, will always return to Barcelona.
This is good to know
The name comes from the old 14th-century channels that once carried water down from Collserola.
The water may have changed, but the name has endured.
