Quesada-Cañaverala and Piédrola, Julio (Duke of San Pedro Galatino)

Duke of San Pedro Galatino

Businessman, politician and visionary entrepreneur who forged some of the great landmarks of tourism in Granada. Thanks to his collaboration with the engineer Juan José Santa Cruz, killed at the beginning of the Civil War, he was responsible for the layout of the road to Sierra Nevada (then, the highest mountain range in Europe as it linked the capital with the peak of Veleta, at 3,300 meters above sea level) and the so-called Tramway of the Sierra, between Granada and Maitena, which ran until the 1960s. He also promoted the construction of the Alhambra Palace Hotel at the perimeter of the Alhambra, among other business initiatives.

As a politician, he was a Member of the Parliament between 1884 and 1899 for the districts of Zaragoza, Huelva and Granada; senator in his own right between 1901 and 1904 and Great Gentleman of Spain by Alfonso XIII.

He died on the eve of the Civil War and was buried on July 17, 1936, the eve of the military uprising, in the Cathedral of Granada.

 

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