Sant Esteve de les Roures: welcome to Catalonia’s new political satire

Not a single town in Catalonia offers such a plentiful array of services as Sant Esteve de les Roures: it has its own hospital, swimming pools, libraries and a zoo, but also a particle accelerator, Grand Casinos, a bishopric, several whiskey bars and even a monster in its lake. If you’re wondering why you’ve never heard about such a unique municipality, the answer may disappoint you: it does not actually exist.

Political satire turned social media phenomenon, Sant Esteve de les Roures is a fictional town which has recently spawned dozens of Twitter profiles set up by anonymous users reproducing the accounts of local institutions and organizations of other Catalan municipalities—and some others you will find virtually nowhere else.