Badalona

Badalona (, , ) is a city and municipality in Catalonia. It is located to the north east of Barcelona, on the left bank of the Besòs River and on the Mediterranean Sea, in the Barcelona metropolitan area. With a population of 226,219, it is the 4th-largest city in Catalonia and the 22rd-largest in Spain. It became a city in 1897.

== Etymology == The name Badalona comes from ancient Iberian word Baitolo according to the legend of several bronze coins of the end of the 2nd century BC found in the city. This word was the origin of the Latin name Baetulo that was as the Romans named the new city they founded off the coast of present Badalona. The oldest mention of the name Baetulo is from De Chorographia of Pomponius Mela (43–44 AD), who use the same name for the Besòs river (named Bissaucio during the Middle Ages). Following the Roman era, during the High Middle Ages the name Baetulo evolved to Bitulona, which was the most common name but not the only one, because it is found in the Latin written documents other versions as Bedelona, Bitilona, Betulona, Bedalona and even Vitulona. The current name is documented already in 997 and by the 14th century was the most used and generalized.