Calle del Marqués de Viana

The name evokes José de Saavedra y Salamanca (1870-1927), second Marquis of Viana, one of the men closest to King Alfonso XIII. They met in 1901 and from that encounter grew a friendship that lasted until his death. As master of the horse and master of the hunt at the palace, he organized the royal hunts and polo tournaments, many at his Moratalla estate, and embodied the politician-courtier of the early twentieth century. His most remembered gesture has nothing to do with politics. In 1908 he boarded an airplane piloted by Wilbur Wright at Le Mans and became the first Spaniard to lift off the ground in a powered machine. Back in Madrid he promoted and chaired the Real Aero Club de España, when flying was still a matter for the few. He died suddenly in April 1927. The street sits in Tetuán, in the Berruguete neighborhood, on land that had once been pasture.