Plaça de la Vila de Gràcia

This guide to Plaça de la Vila de Gràcia in Barcelona centers on a bell nicknamed Marieta and the woman who rang it from the square's tower. In 1870, when the government tried to draft Gràcia's young men into the army over a colonial war, neighbors built barricades and she sounded the alarm for days on end, through cannon fire meant to silence her. You'll also hear about the tower's architect, a son of Gràcia who crowned it with carved zodiac signs, and a later attempt in 1929 to melt the bell down for scrap.