Calle de Esquilache

Leopoldo de Gregorio, Marquis of Esquilache, was born in Messina in 1699 and entered the service of the then king of Naples. When that monarch became Charles III and crossed to Madrid in 1759, he brought him along as his trusted man. Esquilache is the Spanish form of Squillace, a village in Calabria. From the treasury he drove reforms meant to modernize the country, until in March 1766 he signed an order banning long capes and broad-brimmed hats. Such clothing hid faces and weapons, the government argued; the people took it as an affront to how they dressed. On Palm Sunday the riot that bears his name broke out. Esquilache was dismissed and exiled, and died in Venice in 1785. The street pays him a somewhat ironic tribute: today it is two dead-end alleys split by the Cuatro Caminos metro depot, between Avenida de Pablo Iglesias and Avenida de la Reina Victoria.