The camping for housing set up in Puerta del Sol will be decisive in the route of the sheep during the Fiesta de la Trashumancia, scheduled for next October 15. The City Council of Madrid is already working on a plan B that would involve modifying the traditional itinerary, according to municipal sources indicated to Europa Press.
Meanwhile, the municipal government team, led by José Luis Martínez-Almeida, continues to demand that the government delegate, Francisco Martín, order the eviction of the camping. Almeida argues that "there is no excuse to maintain the camping in Sol," given that the promoters of the protest, the Tenants' Union, "are no longer there" and that "the demands they make in Sol have nothing or very little to do with housing."
The Madrid mayor has publicly questioned "why the government delegate, Francisco Martín, maintains the camping. "Why doesn't he act? What is he waiting for? What is the government delegate afraid of? What is the government delegate afraid of?" he has raised.
Almeida has also stated that the City Council is "willing to study mechanisms that allow compensating" the affected merchants in the area by the housing camping, while warning that "a part of Christmas is at risk," the one traditionally celebrated in that enclave.
The sheep will once again roam the center of Madrid
Before the arrival of the Christmas festivities, the Trashumancia will take place. The event will be on October 25, when the bells will resonate again through the streets of Madrid and the symbolic payment of 50 maravedís for every thousand heads of cattle will be recovered, as established in a concord of 1418.
The delivery of those coins to the municipal representatives recalls the agreement reached on March 2 of that year between the delegates of the Mesta and the Council of the Villa, which allowed the shepherds to cross Madrid and its surroundings with their flocks of sheep and goats.
The annual return of the livestock serves to keep alive a history that still leaves a mark in the capital. Alcalá Street was part of the Cañada Real Galiana and in the Plaza de la Independencia stone milestones of the ancient livestock route are still preserved, as the City Council recalls.
Through these routes, today among the most traveled in Madrid, livestock continues to cross every autumn during this festival. In 2025, more than 1,100 merino sheep and 200 goats crossed the center to Cibeles, followed by hundreds of people and guided by members of the Trashumancia y Naturaleza Foundation.
A celebration with a reivindicative vocation since 1994
The Fiesta de la Trashumancia was launched in 1994 by the initiative of the Trashumancia y Naturaleza Association, along with the Madrid City Council, with the aim of demanding a new Law on Livestock Routes. The goal was to protect droves, paths, and trails as public domain and ensure their conservation for the transit of livestock.
The regulation was enacted in March 1995 and since then the passage of herds has been part of the festive calendar of Madrid. Each edition keeps alive the defense of these paths and the profession of shepherd, in addition to bringing city dwellers closer to an activity that remains essential in the rural environment.
The network of livestock routes in Spain totals around 125,000 kilometers. In the Community of Madrid, it reaches 4,104 kilometers and occupies more than 13,000 hectares, with four royal droves and numerous paths, trails, and crossings.
The Fiesta de la Trashumancia also focuses on the role of extensive livestock farming in the protection of biodiversity, the prevention of forest fires, and the support of the population in rural areas.