The Las Letras neighborhood is one of those that make up the Central district of Madrid. It is located between the Puerta del Sol area and the Paseo del Arte.
The name of this place in the capital has its origins in the fact that some of the most famous writers of the Spanish Golden Age lived there. Authors such as Miguel de Cervantes, Lope de Vega, Francisco de Quevedo, Tirso de Molina and Luis de Góngora, among others, established their residences in the aforementioned neighborhood. In addition, they gave names to streets and squares found in the center of the city.
The official Tourism website of the city of Madrid highlights that the Literary neighborhood hosted writers, artists and literature lovers, who came to the comedy corrals to enjoy different performances of works at that time. One of the best known was the Prince’s corral. The Spanish Theater is currently located in its location, which can be visited in the Plaza de Santa Ana.
Other of the most important corrals were the Pacheca and the Cruz corrals. The latter hosted the premieres of such outstanding works as El Sí de las Niñas, by Leandro Fernández de Moratín; the opera The Barber of Seville, by Gioachino Rossini; and Don Juan Tenorio, by José Zorrilla.
In the Literary neighborhood there is also the Lope de Vega House-Museum, where the writer lived in the 17th century. You can visit it, making an appointment in advance, on Cervantes Street. Another key place in the area was Juan de la Cuesta’s printing press, which was located on Atocha Street and where the first edition of Don Quixote de la Mancha was printed. Currently, it is the headquarters of the Sociedad Cervantina cultural space.
