Writers´ district

Of taverns and poets

A long time ago the alleys between Puerta del Sol and Paseo del Prado were the center of the literary world. While Philip IV, a cultured king devoted to sensual pleasures, led his empire toward the abyss, there was little sense of the end of the world in the Barrio de las Letras, Madrid´s writers´ district. Here, Miguel de Cervantes had his world-famous “Don Quixote” printed, Francisco Quevedo cursed in his sonnets everyone who had rank and name, Lope de Vega wrote hundreds of works and Calderón de la Barca brought the Spanish Baroque theater to its climax.

The 17th century was the Golden Age of Spanish culture. In the open-air theaters, the Corral del Príncipe and the Corral de la Cruz, premieres could be admired every day. All social groups flocked to the theater and expressed their enthusiasm or displeasure at what was happening on stage without restraint. The actresses achieved immeasurable fame, just like the film divas of our times. Meanwhile, the impoverished poets gathered at the Mentidero de los Representatives on León Street, exchanging rumors about the Court, gossiping about corrupt editors and speaking extremely badly about their literary rivals.

What was written here in the Barrio de las Letras went out into the big world, especially to the Indies, where the cultural landscape was beginning to flourish. And also in later centuries, theater history was written in the Spanish National Theater, successor to the Corral del Príncipe, where Federico García Lorca caused a great sensation with the premiere of his play “Yerma”.

Explore with us the idyllic alleys of this neighborhood so full of literary references and end this journey through time in one of its many taverns. Because the Barrio de las Letras today has an unsurpassed gastronomic diversity.