Calle de Romero Robledo

The name recalls Francisco Romero Robledo (1838-1906), one of the most feared politicians of the Restoration. He held several ministries, but his fame came from elsewhere. They called him “the young cockerel of Antequera” for his youth and ease, and “the great elector” for something murkier: from the Ministry of the Interior he knew how to manufacture majorities. Under the peaceful rotation of power, where conservatives and liberals took turns by agreement, no one mastered as he did the art of allotting parliamentary seats before a single vote was cast, working through the network of local party bosses. The street crosses the Argüelles district between Calle de la Princesa and Paseo de Moret. Whoever walks it carries the name of a man who boasted he knew the result of an election before the ballot boxes opened.