Dramawalker Vite

Since the 1950s, tourism linked with the myth of Xacobeo (Jacobeo) has played a decisive role in urban planning and development in Santiago de Compostela. It has caused radical shifts in the use of historic buildings such as the former Royal Hospital, which was converted into a hotel in 1954. It meant new direct access routes to the cathedral had to be opened, getting rid of the traditional route connecting the historic centre with the periphery, as was the case when Avenida Xoán XXIII opened in the late fifties. Installed for the holy year of 1965, the Burgo de Las Naciones, a temporary pilgrim’s hostel, cut off the urban north of the city. The hostel was subsequently converted for use as a students’ residence for almost three decades, and later became a drug supermarket in the eighties. And in the nineties, the process of replacing the historic centre’s traditional businesses with shops aimed at tourists accelerated. Homes were abandoned, converted into hotels and other accommodation for tourists.

But Santiago de Compostela is more than a historic city. It’s much more. Anyone curious enough to explore further than the top spots in the tourism guide should come along with us to discover one of the most popular neighbourhoods: Vite. Any story of the city’s history in the last 50 years would be incomplete without it. The neighbourhood is primarily home to people with limited resources from other parts of the city, who were relocated to council flats in the area. The neighbourhood is the flip side of the tourism city, representing the most social aspect of urban planning. It confronts and connects Franco’s developmentalism with the Transition, integrating diverse communities. It is home to a proud social fabric and community which knows what it means to have to fight to get basic infrastructures and improve life in the neighbourhood. A neighbourhood scarred by drugs, which invented the cry of self-determination that would make a difference to the city in the early nineties: ¡Vite Nazón!

Dramawalker Vite offers an audio tour from the heart of the historic city to Vite, where you can immerse yourself in stories depicting the city’s urban memory. The project consists of the following stories:

• A cidade simbólica non deixa ver a cidade real, by Xron. With Patricia de Lorenzo.

• Espírito do bosque , by Carlos Santiago.
  With Miguel Varela and Ricardo de Barreiro.

• Sinfonía de Vite en 4 movementos veciñais, byPaula Carballeira.
  With Arantza Villar and Daniel Baamonde.

• A Ponderosa, by Manuel Cortés.
  With Eduardo Rodriguez Cunha “Tatán”, Manuel Cortés, Xron, Patricia de Lorenzo, Ricardo de Barreiro, Mónica García and Miguel de Lira.

• O Monumento, by Esther F. Carrodeguas.
  With Miguel de Lira, Mónica García, Manuel Cortés