The Department of Culture of the Malaga City Council has inaugurated this Friday its plate number 16 of the plan 'Málaga makes history' , dedicated to the Italian Félix Solesio (1739-1806), an Italian manufacturer of playing cards and who was the founder of the Arroyo de la Miel, in the Malaga municipality of Benalmádena, where it installed several paper mills.
Solesio, commissioned by José de Gálvez, Minister of the Indies, took over the export of decks of cards to Spanish America . After a flourishing business career, he "ends up ruined and his palace's house on Granada street, where the plaque is placed, is seized", they have indicated from the Malaga City Council through a statement.
The Councilor for Culture, Noelia Losada, unveiled this Friday the plaque on Calle Granada in what is now the Hotel Palacio de Solecio. She has been accompanied by Antonio Solesio, representative of the honoree's family, and the historian Víctor Heredia.
The Gálvez de Macharaviaja succeeded in having their hometown host the Royal Card Factory , and José de Gálvez commissioned the Italian, an expert in the paper industry in Genoa, to run the company.
The purpose of these plaques, "in addition to pointing out the buildings and the historical figures and milestones that took place in them, is also to create routes that link them together ," they have pointed out.
In this way, the one dedicated to Solesio can be added to that of Luis de Unzaga , in Alameda, who was governor of Lousiana, and to Ruy López de Villalobos, in Calle Compañía, the man who named the Philippine Islands, "and put thus highlighting the importance of the city in overseas achievements".
'Málaga makes history' already has 16 plaques
The first plaque of the 'Málaga makes history' plan was placed on March 26, 2021 in Villa Maya in honor of the Mexican consul Porfirio Smerdou , who gave shelter to dozens of refugees from both sides during the Civil War.
The second was dedicated to the Number One Practice College building , in the Plaza de la Constitución, which has had continuous educational use since the 17th century. Subsequently, a plaque was placed on the Jesuits' San Estanislao de Kostka College building in the neighborhood of El Palo, in memory of the philosopher and essayist José Ortega y Gasset's student days in Malaga.
Coinciding with the 20th anniversary of the death of Rafael Pérez Estrada , the Malaga City Council placed a plaque in the 'Bilmore' restaurant in La Malagueta , where the literary gathering in which the writer and lawyer from Malaga acted as host is remembered .
The fourth plaque, for its part, pays homage to Ernst Hemingway , who stayed at La Cónsula, owned by the Davis family, in 1959 to write 'El Verano Peligroso' in Churriana. The following is located on the façade of Calle Cortina del Muelle Cinco, a building that was the residence of the Orueta family, one of the most important family sagas in the history of science in Spain, as founders of modern Geology.
The Oruet a, moreover, "are an example of the cosmopolitan and enterprising Málaga of the 19th and early 20th centuries". They also created the Association for the Education of Women, and the three members of this family that are honored are Domingo de Orueta y Aguirre, Domingo de Orueta Duarte and Ricardo de Orueta Duarte.
The next plaque was dedicated to Gregorio Sánchez, better known as Chiquito de la Calzada , an icon of Spanish humor. It is available at the 'Chinitas' restaurant, where he regularly went to eat with his friends.
After that of Chiquito was that of Luis de Unzaga , due to his imprint on the birth of the United States of America. It is located at Alameda Principal number 12, on the corner with Puerta del Mar, a building built by himself, and the place where he died.
The next one was the homage to the Navy soldier Ruy López de Villalobos , born in Málaga in 1500, and died in the Philippine Islands in 1546, followed by the one dedicated to the memory of the dancer Anita Delgado, which reached its maximum relevance when being Majarani of Kapurthala, the first Spanish princess of India.
Behind it was placed the one that paid homage to the Republican deputy Victoria Kent, one of the pioneer lawyers in Spain and the first to intervene in a military court. The last one was the plaque dedicated to the sculptor Jaime Fernández Pimentel, author of three of the most iconic sculptures in the city, the Biznaguero, the Cenachero and the Platero donkey in the Park.
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