Calle de Lepanto

Ópera·Palacio

The street recalls the naval battle of 7 October 1571, fought in the Gulf of Patras (off the Greek city of Naupactus, then called Lepanto) between the Holy League and the Ottoman fleet. The Holy League, led by Don Juan de Austria, half-brother of Philip II, won decisively: it captured around 117 Ottoman galleys and freed thousands of Christian oarsmen. Madrid’s council named the street on 31 March 1848, among the streets laid out on the ground cleared by the demolitions ordered by Joseph Bonaparte facing the Royal Palace.

Barely eighty metres separate plaza de Ramales from plaza de Oriente, and into that short stretch fits one of history’s great naval battles. But first came a demolition: between 1809 and 1811, Joseph I razed the medieval quarter huddled against the Alcázar, and where neighbours had lived a wasteland remained that the people called the mire. When plaza de Oriente was rebuilt around 1844, the council named the streets after crown victories: San Quintín, Pavía, Philip V, Charles III and, closing the series, Lepanto (1571). The battle has an exceptional protagonist. At Lepanto, Cervantes fought, sick with fever yet refusing to stay below deck. He came out with three arquebus wounds; the third left his left hand crippled for life.

Its names

  • Sin rotulación (solar sin nombre)1810–1848
  • Calle de Lepanto31 mar 1848 – actualidad
Sources (9)

Crossings