The Cardener is the river running through the life of a group of towns and villages in the north-east of the county of El Bages, above its capital, Manresa. It rises on the eastern slopes of the Port del Comte mountains, in El Solsonès, and links the Pyrenean foothills with the plains of central Catalonia before releasing its waters into the Llobregat.

The towns and villages surrounding it share a solid history, deeply rooted in the Middle Ages. Here, the rural world of forests, market gardens and dry-cultivated crops goes hand-in-hand with the textile industry, attracted by the possibility of using the water of the Cardener as an energy source. Castles and churches, water mills and manufacturing colonies, livestock farms and solid farmhouses coexist beside a river that has been the driving force for secular human activity and still preserves spaces with rich landscapes and exceptional riverbank woodlands.