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The castle of Peralada, already mentioned in the 9th century with the name Tolón castle, was the center of the county of Peralada. The dynasty of the Viscounts of Peralada began with Berenguer, son of Count Ponce I of Ampurias, who when his father died became lord of Peralada. Later, the viscounts bore the surnames of Quermançó and Rocabertí.
In 1285, during the French invasion of Ampurdán, during Philip the Bold's Crusade against Catalonia, the castle was destroyed and the town burned. The remains of this primitive castle and the parish church of San Martín are in the upper part of the town center. In the middle of the 14th century, a second, new, larger wall enclosure was built, and the new Rocabertí palace was built outside the walls. In 1472, during the Remences War, King John II invaded and occupied the castle again and years later, in 1599, Viscount Francesc Jofre de Rocabertí was invested as Count of Peralada by Philip III of Spain.
It has been the subject of several renovations and extensions, the eastern façade is in Renaissance style and at the end of the 19th century it was expanded again, under the direction of the French architect Grant. A large garden surrounds it.
The palace was acquired in 1923 by Miguel Mateu y Pla, who gathered a notable collection of art (crystals, ceramics, paintings, books, manuscripts) and sponsored the edition of scholarly books “Biblioteca de Peralada”. Today, the property is still in the hands of the Mateu family and is the headquarters of a wine cellar, so it cannot be visited in its entirety. However, part of the castle is home to the casino, and the gardens remain open in July and August for the Peralada International Music Festival.
