Travel Guide Sancti Spíritus

Capital of the eponymous province located inland, it has had to fight to survive. Since its foundation in 1514, Sancti Spíritus, the fourth colonial city founded in Cuba by the Spaniards, has suffered successive pirate attacks, forcing the inhabitants to migrate and rebuild the city elsewhere, on its current location. The prosperity, even the opulence, conquered by the region thanks to sugar, continued to whet the appetite of the pirates who settled in Jamaica and on Turtle Island until the beginning of the 18th century. Ransacked and burned several times, the city unfortunately lost much of its heritage. Less well preserved than Trinidad, located 69 km to the east, Sancti Spíritus nevertheless has certain architectural assets, especially since it remains the economic lung of the province and the most populated city with its 90,000 inhabitants.Essentially focused on the food industry, the city is home to the most important sugar factory in the country (Central Uruguay), which is fed by the cane fields that cover the province. Panchito Gómez Toro, the largest paper mill on the island, uses bagasse (a by-product of sugar cane) from the Uruguay plant.Note that Sanctí Spíritus celebrated its 500th anniversary in July 2014 and to prepare for this anniversary, many renovations took place in the city center: the Parroquial Mayor church was repainted in a nice blue color, most of the buildings had their facades repainted in beautiful colors and the central park Serafín Sánchez was completely redesigned. So the city really deserves to be known and it is especially pleasant to walk around this beautiful and picturesque city center with its cobblestone streets.