Calle de Santa María la Real de Nieva

Behind this long name is an image pulled from the earth. In September 1392, in a slate quarry of the Segovian region of Nieva, a shepherd named Pedro Amador claimed the Virgin had charged him to dig up a carving of her hidden beneath the ground. When they excavated, a wooden image appeared in an underground cavity. From that find below ground comes her title: Soterraña, an old Castilian word related to “subterranean.” The news reached Queen Catherine of Lancaster, who paid for a sanctuary and pushed the founding of the town, formalized in 1395 under King Henry III. The “Real” (Royal) in the name reflects that patronage of the crown. The calle de Santa María la Real de Nieva carries that Segovian place name to the Imperial neighborhood, on Madrid’s bank of the Manzanares, where several streets bear the names of Spanish towns.