Calle de Paradinas

The name comes from Castile to this corner of the Imperial neighborhood. Paradinas is a place-name that repeats across the plateau: there is a Paradinas in the Segovian countryside and a Paradinas de San Juan in Salamanca. Which of the two Madrid’s street-namers meant is not recorded. Where the word springs from is known, however. It derives from the Latin paries, “wall,” and referred to the fallen walls of old buildings, often Roman remains, on which medieval resettlement took root. The Segovian Paradinas fits that image: it rose over the ruins of a Roman villa whose mosaics came to light in the 19th century. The street belongs to the residential fabric that replaced the factory Madrid of Arganzuela. Today it is a quiet road a step away from Madrid Río.