Calle de Jacometrezo

Sol

The street takes its name from Giovan Giacomo Nizzola da Trezzo (c. 1515-1519 – Madrid, 23 September 1589), a Milanese sculptor, medallist and goldsmith known in Spain as Jácome Trezzo, who lived and died here. Recorded as “calle de Jacome Trezzo” at least since Espinosa’s map (1769), the first and last names merged into a single word by the mid-19th century.

There was a time when this street began much higher up. Born as a side entrance to the postern of the San Martín convent, it ran from the Red de San Luis to link up with Tudescos. Mesonero Romanos portrayed it as “one of the most travelled, narrow and worst-laid streets in Madrid.” The demolitions to open the Gran Vía, which reached here from 1910, cut off its upper part. The stretch where the house of Jácome Trezzo had stood⁠—⁠the Milanese sculptor and medallist who gave it its name and died here in 1589⁠—⁠was buried beneath the Casa Matesanz. Of all that length, 187 metres survived, those joining plaza del Callao with plaza de Santo Domingo. In those few metres a surprising life was packed: the Fonda de Genieys, through which French cuisine entered Madrid; Mahou’s central branch; the first workshop of La Mallorquina. And here stood the second-hand bookshop that Valle-Inclán turned into the “Cave of Zarathustra” in Luces de Bohemia.

Its names

  • Postigo de San Martín1656 (plano Texeira)
  • Calle de Jacome Trezzo1769 (plano Espinosa) – c. 1850
  • Calle de Jacometrezoc. 1850 – actualidad
Sources (8)

Crossings