The stroll from one end of the city center to the other will return this Sant Jordi. With the pandemic, the stalls on La Rambla, where this cultural festival was born almost 100 years ago, were lost, and activity was concentrated on Paseo de Gràcia. This year, with April 23 falling on a Sunday, La Rambla will be recovered, so the route can start on Diagonal and end in Plaza Reial. A small extension will even be allowed, adding Gran de Gràcia to the conventional excursion that used to be done before the arrival of covid to look for books and roses.
On this long route, the literary super-block that debuted last year will be consolidated, cutting off traffic in the area between Paseo de Gràcia, Diagonal, Rambla Catalunya, and Gran Via. The streets of València, Aragó, and Mallorca will maintain open circulation. As in 2022, the book and rose stalls will be concentrated on Paseo de Gràcia, while those of the associations will be on Rambla Catalunya. This segregation of booksellers and florists from associations began to be tested two years ago to decongest the city center and make circulation more fluid, a new model now consolidated, remarks the president of the Cambra del Llibre de Catalunya, Patrici Tixis.
On La Rambla, the stalls will start at Canaletes, concentrating the professional book and rose stalls in the upper part, until reaching Plaza Reial, with a last section for the association stalls. With the return of La Rambla, 360 more linear meters will be added than last year, almost 11% more.
In addition to the spaces enabled in the center of Barcelona, with 154,000 square meters, Sant Jordi will once again extend to other parts of the city. "There will be small literary super-blocks so that everyone can celebrate Sant Jordi, also close to home if they wish," explains the deputy mayor for Culture, Jordi Martí. Thus, there will be other spaces with professional stalls in Plaza Universitat; Paseo de Sant Joan, with a focus on comics and children's and young adult literature; on Diagonal as it passes through Les Corts, between Pau Romeva and Joan Güell streets; on Rambla del Poblenou, in Plaza Orfila de Sant Andreu, and in Plaza de Sarrià.
However, it is expected to exceed the almost 300 book stalls there were a year ago, with a higher rate of registrations this 2023, even with requests from other countries, something completely unprecedented. In addition to the stalls that will be there on April 23, there will be those that bookstores can set up on the street in the days before, this time, starting on Friday. Last year, about 100 establishments did so. In addition to the book stalls, there are flower stalls, with about 80, and those of associations. Beyond whether the expected high participation of stalls increases sales, it remains to be seen if the weather again plays a trick on booksellers and florists.