Calle de Moratín

Moratín was born on this street on 10 March 1760, when it was still called calle de San Juan, so named on Pedro Teixeira’s 1656 map. In time the playwright returned as one of the great figures of Spanish theatre: he bought a house here and turned its courtyard into a garden. In 1826 he donated the property to the Inclusa, Madrid’s foundling hospice. It is worth being clear which Moratín we mean, for there were two. The street honours the son, Leandro Fernández de Moratín, author of El sí de las niñas, not his father Nicolás, who also wrote for the stage. Nearby, La Maripepa, a tavern that opened in the early 20th century, still serves.