Paseo de Santa María de la Cabeza

The name comes from a chapel that in the 18th century stood at the edge of this road, dedicated to Santa María de la Cabeza. The route grew behind it, first a service path and then a proper street, which Ferdinand VI ordered paved alongside the nearby Paseo de las Delicias. The saint was María Toribia, wife of San Isidro Labrador, patron of Madrid. She lived between the late 11th and early 12th centuries in the Jarama valley. The epithet “de la Cabeza” —⁠of the head⁠— is not metaphorical: her main relic was her skull, venerated for centuries. Philip IV ordered her remains moved to Madrid, and from the 18th century they rested beside her husband’s in the Colegiata de San Isidro. She should not be confused with the Andalusian Virgen de la Cabeza, to whom she bears no relation. Anyone who wants to see the saint in stone can visit the nearby Puente de Toledo, where one of the niches depicts her beside her husband. The promenade begins at the Atocha roundabout and heads south across the river toward Carabanchel.