The first official records we have of Sa Plaça date back to 1869, although we believe we opened our doors a few years earlier.
After several changes, at the beginning of the 20th century, our grandmother’s grandparents, Miquel and Tuninaina, took over the café which, thanks to its privileged location in the Main Square, had already become one of the main meeting points for the people of Santanyí.
Some of the tables from that time are still here today. On the sides of the wooden tables inside, you can still see drawings made by soldiers who spent the long winter afternoons by the fireplace during the Spanish Civil War (1936–1939).
After them, the café was run for several years by one of their daughters, Antonia, and her husband Toni. He had previously worked as a carpenter and handcrafted the beautiful chairs that can still be found inside today.
Later, our great-grandmother María, also daughter of Miquel, took over the business. She was a woman ahead of her time and, together with her husband Damián, managed the day-to-day life of Sa Plaça as well as a hat shop next door that her mother had opened years earlier.
In 1966, our grandparents Bernardo and Maria took charge of Sa Plaça at a time when, although it remained a key part of village life — serving as the headquarters of the local football club and a meeting point for fishermen and farmers — the first tourists were also beginning to arrive.
Our grandmother tells us that those early tourists, even though communication was often through gestures, would sit with the village elders having coffee at Sa Plaça and try to chat with them, showing genuine interest in the island’s traditions and way of life.
Our grandparents ran Sa Plaça until 1998, when our parents took over.
And now, in 2023, we begin an exciting new chapter in a project we truly believe in, because it is a fundamental part of our family.
Rosa & Neus
