Calle del Marqués de la Valdavia

The title on this street belonged to Mariano Ossorio Arévalo (1889-1969), third Marquis of la Valdavia. A deputy in the Cortes during the Restoration for districts in Palencia, after the Civil War he tied his career to Francoism: a procurator from 1943 and, above all, chairman of the Provincial Council of Madrid for eighteen years, from 1947 to 1965. His biography holds an episode of escape. Arrested in Republican Madrid, he passed through the Cárcel Modelo and the Porlier checa before seeking shelter in the Cuban legation; from there he managed to leave the country and re-enter Spain through Irún in 1937. At his death the city dedicated this street to him. The same name also marks a metro station and a Calle del Marqués de la Valdavia in Alcobendas.