Llívia

A town, not a village

The Romans called it Julia Libyca, a name that became Julia Livia and then Llívia, and it was the capital of Cerdagne, the high basin of the Segre River, until 1177.^[1] The Treaty of the Pyrenees of 1659, which ended 24 years of war between France and Spain, gave France 33 villages in Cerdagne. Llívia was classed as a town, and Spain used that legal detail to keep it.^[2][1]

Treaties of 1856, 1862 and 1866 finally settled the line. The 1866 treaty set out the perimeter of “the Spanish town of Llívia, enclaved in France”, barred Spain from ever fortifying it, and let the town and the French village of Angoustrine share a canal’s water by days of the week.^[3][2]

A neutral road

Spaniards may travel freely through France on the direct road between Llívia and Puigcerdà, the Spanish town across the border.^[3][1] The treaties also said Spanish drivers should not face police checks on it: the French call it the D68, and in Llívia it is the N-154.^[2]

That produced the “War of the Stop Signs”. For three weeks in April 1971, stop signs put up by French workers on the D68 were removed every night by locals, until the French government backed down.^[2] In the 17th and 18th centuries the town was notorious for smuggling.^[1]

Llívia today

Llívia lives mainly from farming and tourism, with Catalan festivals and cuisine, and shops that close in the afternoon. Its best-known sight is the Esteve Pharmacy Museum, one of Europe’s oldest pharmacies, which draws about 16,000 visitors a year.^[2]