El Vendrell is a town located in Catalonia, Spain, wedged between the Mediterranean and the mountains, which have both shaped the place's appearance, its customs and the character of its inhabitants. El Vendrell is the capital of the Baix Penedès or Lower Penedès, one of Catalonia's more peculiar comarques or counties, with an intermixing of traditional Penedès wine-growing and modern tourism and services... the cultural traditions dearest to the heart of all Catalans (diables ["devils" running with fire through the streets], the gralla [traditional treble guitar] and castells [towering "castles" made of humans standing on each other's shoulders]) and the universal music of maestro Pablo Casals.