Calle Torres Miranda
Bears the surname of Pedro Torres de Miranda, a figure whose origin as the street’s name is not documented.
Calle Torres Miranda bears the surname of one Pedro Torres de Miranda, better known for a tale of captivity in Algiers than for any verifiable biography. He appears in no biographical directory or official record, and the dates that usually accompany the story cannot be confirmed. The origin of the name remains undocumented.
The name does point to something real. Captivity in Algiers shaped sixteenth- and seventeenth-century Spain: Christians seized at sea and ransomed for their weight in gold. Cervantes spent several years there before returning to Madrid.
The street runs through the La Chopera neighbourhood, near Paseo de las Delicias and Calle de Méndez Álvaro, in an area that for centuries was a fringe of market gardens on the outskirts of old Madrid.