
Why there were hostels on Pont d’Inca?
Es Pont d’Inca is the youngest of the historical centres of Marratxí, but it is also the one that grew the fastest due to its strategic location around the Inca road and on the border with the city. From the second half of the 19th century onwards, different hostels began to be established thanks to this location. These travellers coming from abroad to the city needed a place to stay, whether for shelter, food or sleep, as the gates of Palma closed at night and did not open until the following day, so it was common to spend the night in these hostels and leave first thing in the morning.

These constructions were generally located on the margins of the main streets that connected the towns with the city. In particular, these roads were used by workers, such as peasants who went to sell at the Palma market -traginers or tragineres-, or people who travelled specifically for other reasons. Although there were also other inns between Pont d’Inca and Palma, many people thought it was better to stop in Marratxí because they claimed that the wine was cheaper and of higher quality.
How to differentiate them
Architecturally, they are not very different from the typical Mallorcan house, but they are characterized by being wider than the usual houses, where the main façade has a large roof porch with pillars or columns that can occupy the entire building, both in width and height. This large porch was used as a shelter for carts and animals. As for the general internal layout, it was most common to use the ground floor as a large dining room and kitchen from a single room. The upper floor was reserved for the bedrooms where people slept together.


In 1902, once the walls of Palma were overthrown, these constructions lost their meaning and were reconverted at the beginning of the 20th century. Today we can identify some of these old hostels in some of the buildings on the current Avenida de Antoni Maura, especially recognizable by their arcaded porches.


For example, numbers 12 and 45 are buildings that conserve a type of porch that has almost disappeared in the nucleus, since most of those that have survived until today were made up of lowered arches. Other examples can be found at ca’n Berruga (no. 24), ca’n del Valle (no. 28), ca’s Ferrer (no. 26) and ca’n Vermell (no. 71-73). On other façades we can still distinguish the arches, today walled up.