The origins of Santa Susanna date back to the times when the valley lands between the Gràcia and Guàrdia hills and those of the Pla de Balasch began to be populated by peasants.

This happened in the 12th century, when we already have signs of the establishment of Puiglauter (Podius Lotarius) near the Can Jordà hill and from the 13th century we have many more data: the establishment of the Pineda house, Can Jordà, Can Mestres, Mas Poch or Can Ratés, Coll de Pafils, Ferrarí, Can Gelat, Mas Goyta or Guaita...

It therefore would seem that first the top of the dry river was occupied, more protected and less exposed to the dangers of the sea, and progressively the more open parts were occupied down to the beach plain. In fact, this is the normal sequence of occupation in a medieval Catalonia where there was a constant danger of pirates. The abundance of defence towers preserved in Santa Susanna makes this obvious: Bonet, mas de Dalt or Masrossell, mas Galter, can Jordà, Mas Poch or can Ratés, can Gelat are all signs of the splendid heritage that must be admired and preserved.

The first mention of the current term of Santa Susanna is previous to these dates and was made with the name of Vall or Riera d'Alfata on 20th December 1021, as shown in a document on a donation to the monastery of Sant Pol and which is preserved in the Archives of the Crown of Aragon.

Alfata is an Arab name that undoubtedly refers to the meaning of "victory" and in verb form means "to conquer". It might recall a leading campaign of the Emir of Tortosa in 911, in which he managed to destroy the ancient Empúries, invaded inland Catalonia going up the Tordera to Maçanet (another name with an Arab origin) and started a large battle close to St. Pol (Santa Susanna?) where the monastery was destroyed.

In the 11th century, the width of the valley and its open location made Santa Susanna an ideal frontier place for the peasants to set up. The dry river divided the term we now call Santa Susanna in two:

The houses on the right hand side belonged to the Montpalau castle, under the lordship of the viscount of Cabrera, who held the highest jurisdiction, that is, power in capital letters, and compulsory government in Pineda was held by the Coll notaries (now can Jalpí).

The peasants on the left hand side were normally from the area of Palafolls castle, under the domain of its lords, who held the low jurisdiction, and with government in Vilanova de Palafolls, that is, Malgrat, held by the powerful Desclapers.

The chaos did not stop there: the people of the upper part of the dry river were from the parish of St. Pere de Riu and, on the other hand, those at the bottom were from the parish of Santa Maria de Pineda. The fact of belonging to a parish meant religious adscription, but also the payment of the ‘delmes’ (10 - 9 % of the gross harvest) and first fruit and oblations (variable amounts of the harvest).

The small nobility in the town, the 'aloers’ had no jurisdictional rights or political power, but as eminent territorial owners they were entitled to charge the peasants who worked the lands for censuses, rents or lauds. The Pineda family belonged to this nobility, and resided in the term of Santa Susanna until the end of the line in the 16th century, in the current Can Jordà. Other rent owners were the knights of the Menola house in Pineda with the tower now known as the Torre Santa Anna; those of the Camòs family resided on the fork of Can Cànoves in Pineda until the 14th century, when they went to the Baix Empordà, or those of the Sant Julià family in the parish of St. Genís de Palafolls, which, when the line ended, passed over to the Albertí of Girona, knights in Llagostera since the 15th century.

These gentry were soon added to by the Roger de Calella line, who as natural mayors (with a hereditary post) of the term of Montpalau, had administrative powers over the neighbours of Santa Susanna in the collection of taxes, submissions, problems with justice, etc. Those of the band of Palafolls had to fight with the Estornell family and then the Desclapers, the mayors of the town.

Peasants, houses, lords and castles of medieval times defined the life of the term we now know as Santa Susanna, but we can not talk of this as a modern Town Hall until the 19th century. We therefore find the origins of this Santa Susanna very late, formalised in the provincial division agreed by the liberal progressivist government of 1835 of which Mendizábal was president and Javier de Burgos the editor of the project. This time gave rise to the dictionary by P. Madoz in 1849 from which we know there were 120 cases, that cereals were harvested, and wine, oil, legumes and that rabbits were bred and quails hunted. Importance is given to the good quality land, but the forest is qualified as insignificant. In short, seen now, the following description is curious:

SANTA SUSANA DE LA BISBAL (sic): a place with a town hall in the province, territorial audience, general captainship of Barcelona (9 ½ hrs), judicial party of Arenis de Mar (2 hrs): dioceses of Gerona (10 hrs.): LOCATION, on a plain where the western winds particularly battle with the temperate, healthy CLIMATE. It has 120 houses, the town hall, a parish church (Sta. Susana) annexed to that of Pineda and a hermitage dedicated to Sto. Cristo. The TERM confines N. S. Pedro de Riu: E. Palafolls and Malgrat; S the Mediterranean Sea and W with Pineda. The LAND is good quality; it is partially irrigated and is crossed by a stream that only has water in the rainy season; it has an insignificant forest. PATHS: the road from Barcelona to Gerona passes S. of the town and ½ quarter of a league away. The POST is received from Pineda by carriage. PRODUCTION. Cereals, wine, oil, legumes; breeding and hunting of rabbits and quails. POPULATION: 79 neighbours; 519 souls. PRODUCTION CAPITAL. 3,526.800 reales. TAX: 88.170 reales".

Furthermore, this document shows that the village is given the name of Santa Susanna de la Bisbal. The present official name is Santa Susanna, but it is true that it has had another. Montagut de Mar was the official name of Santa Susanna approved on 17th December 1936 by the municipal plenum in the more of less general campaign to remove all the saints names during the civil war. The alternative of Montagut del Maresme was discussed, but it was defeated. This change, however, ended on 13th February 1939 in the first municipal act of the new authorities of occupation.

Today, Santa Susanna gives her name to a town which with its natural physiognomy integrates sea and mountain, forest and harvest lands and where the country houses and watch towers are still further elements of the scenery that make its history visible.

Thanks to professor Jesús Rodríguez, with his knowledge and clear account, has summarised the origins of our town. If you like getting lost among old documents, wills and legacies, family trees, agreements and relationship references between feudal men, you can plunge into the book by Dr. Massons titled Història de la Vila de Santa Susanna, a difficult book -as he says in the prologue, but largely documented.

Habitants(01/01/2006): 2.954
Superfície: 12,5 km2
Entitats que el formen: Can Torrent, Alta Maresma i Can Gelat, El Pla (Disseminat), La Vall, Muntanya (Disseminat), Santa Susanna, Urbanització Can Raters, Zona Hotelera.
Ens en què participa:
CONSORCIS: Consorci de Promoció Turística Costa del Maresme, Consorci LOCALRET, Consorci per al Tractament de Residus Sòlids Urbans del Maresme.
MANCOMUNITATS: Mancomunitat d'Abastament d'Aigua de l'Alt Maresme, Mancomunitat de l'Alt Maresme per a la Gestió de Residus Sòlids Urbans i del Medi Ambient, Mancomunitat d'Usuaris de la Conca de la Tordera.

Síntesi d'indicadors socioeconòmics de Santa Susanna (Font de les dades: Diputació de Barcelona)