Capitão (street)
Original title: Capitão (Rua do)
Former name of a Funchal street, part of today's Rua dos Murças between the Avenida de João Gonçalves Zarco and the Largo da Sé. It was named after the captain-donatary of Funchal, whose residence in the São Lourenço fortress it led to.
The stretch of Rua dos Murças between the Avenida de João Gonçalves Zarco and the Largo da Sé was called Rua do Capitão, a name it kept until not so many years ago. In earlier times the whole of Rua dos Murças was known as Rua do Capitão. Frutuoso says: ‘From this Rua do Sabão there rises one that is called do Capitam, because it is the most direct way to his house....’ The captain to whom the Saudades refer was the captain-donatary (capitão-donatário) of Funchal, who had his residence in the Fort of São Lourenço (‘St Lawrence’).
- Gaspar Frutuoso 1522–1591