Calle del Águila

A street that runs down from calle del Mediodía Grande to calle Ventosa, along a slope once climbed by stone steps. Mesonero Romanos, describing the Vistillas quarter in the 19th century, noted the density of the working-class housing with a figure that still surprises: in its 42 houses were packed 1,294 residents. The heart of its history lies at number 1, where tradition places the birth of Saint Isidore the Labourer, patron of Madrid, around 1082. The building seen today has stood since 1896 and holds an 18th-century polychrome carving and a Christ painted by Rafael Tegeo in 1854. The street’s name comes from its processional side, tied to the surroundings of San Andrés and San Francisco el Grande. In 1899 the magazine Blanco y Negro devoted an article to it, “La calle del Águila,” portraying the stepped slope and the traditional air of the neighbourhood. In 1928 the actress and singer Nati Mistral, a pioneer of the musical in Spain, was born here.