Plaza del Calicanto
The name refers to calicanto, the lime-and-stone rubblework used to raise masonry walls, though why it was chosen for this corner of Tetuán is not documented.
Calicanto comes from cal y canto: the lime that binds and the canto, the loose stone of river or field. With that mix walls were raised for centuries, from old fortifications to the orchard boundary walls that ringed Madrid. A calicanto wall meant something solid; hence the expression “a cal y canto”, still used for something firmly shut.
The word has a second body: it also names an ornamental shrub with reddish, fragrant flowers. Which of the two meanings weighed when naming this square is not documented.
The Plaza del Calicanto lies in Valdeacederas, a district that grew on the slope descending from the old carretera de Francia toward the streams below, where migrants who worked the waterside orchards settled. Today the square is one of the most traditional spaces in the neighbourhood, a breather of planters and benches among the streets that climb north.