Our history

After finishing the second Carlist war and reigning Isabel II, Don Vicente Hijós y Palacio establishes in number 6 of the newly reformed Puerta del Sol in Madrid an office of the most select coffees, chocolates, sweets and teas. It is the year 1852, the Moderate Party governs, the administrative and political reform has just begun, as the works of Canal de Isabel II, the telegraph for train stations is opened and the Caja General de Depositos is created. Through the city, there is an air of change, and locals seek novelties and delicacies. Given the very high quality of the products offered in his establishment, the reputation of D. Vicente’s business does not take long to soar. It takes its name from the popular origami figure that the people who frequented the “cafes” used to make with paper napkins: La Pajarita

Among all the products manufactured, their classic candies of 12 flavors (nowadays 17) take on a particular prominence, of which the violet and rose caramel stand out. Don Vicente decides to create the specific mold for these two candies with the shape of the flower from which their respective essences are extracted: violet and rose. Locals do not take long to show their preference for the first one that over time has become a symbol of the typical candy of Madrid, however, La Pajarita continues to manufacture the two varieties with their respective original forms. Very celebrated are also their milk chocolate chocolates with the shape of the Pajarita and their Marrons Glacés that still nowadays are only sold in chestnut season from La Virgen del Pilar Feast until the Feast of Saint José.

Don Vicente Hijós and his wife Doña Lorenza Aznárez had no offspring and decided on August 4, 1927 to cede the establishment to their nephew Don Lorenzo Aznárez Gil by writing before the notary of the town and court of Madrid Don Lorenzo Carrión. A few years later, on November 26, 1932, D. Vicente dies in Madrid as a good Christian as he had lived. Don Lorenzo continues with the tradition and painstaking quality of La Pajarita whose fame and popularity were so great that even a zarzuela bears his name. In 1900 the S.A. Casa Dotesio (current Spanish Musical Union), published the Zarzuela LA PAJARITA by Francisco Flores García, whose protagonist appears in the play as a Madrid-born cheeky lady so mellow and affected, that calls herself after the most famous candy store in Madrid.

During the forties, the workshop is moved from its original location in the very Puerta del Sol (under the shop) to the Carrera de San Francisco as it was necessary to expand the small factory. Nowadays, the candies and chocolates factory is located in Villaverde council. As his grandfather did, Don Lorenzo Aznárez Gil cedes the management of the business to his son Don Lorenzo Aznárez Sola in 1954. In 1969 a branch in Calle Villanueva 14 is opened, which in 1991 became the only establishment of La Pajarita where visitors are welcome under an imposing chandelier with 19th century furniture and walls lined with wild silk.

The long life of La Pajarita has been flooded with many anecdotes, such as the story of the Infanta Cristina de Borbón, daughter of Alfonso XIII, in a memoir about the life of the Royal family: “My brother Gonzalo and I escaped once, but we did not even get to the street. There were many people, many obstacles to go through. Service nobles, halberdiers, servants, polices on duty … They grabbed us and put us inside. I think we had the intention of going to a confectionery to buy sweets. I want to remember that to “La Pajarita”. Regular and distinguished clients have been Queen Fabiola of Belgium, Lauren Bacall, Infanta Doña Pilar or Don Miguel de Unamuno, a great fan of both the art of brain-otology, (name with which he himself called origami), and the candies of such exquisite taste La Pajarita was also a silent witness to Don José Canalejas’ 1912 murder that took place in front of the San Martín bookstore’s window after he had picked up his daily candy order.

Since its foundation, La Pajarita, has been present in the most important political decisions of the last one hundred and sixty-seven years, since its candies, now as then, are served for the tasting of their lordships both in the Chamber of Representatives and in the Senate. This is how Prudencio González (usher and archivist of the Senate) remembers it: “In the 1920s candy boxes were distributed every day from La Pajarita, known as Don Joaquín Bau’s sweets, as they were a personal gift from him”. Other institutions that enjoy such tasty sweets are the Royal Academy of History, the Royal Academy of Moral and Political Sciences, the General Council of the Judiciary and boards of directors of important Spanish companies.

La Pajarita remains today conserving its artisanal way of elaborating the products based on raw materials of the highest quality and manual techniques of the highest artisanal style, giving its candies and chocolates the right balance between a refined flavor and a polished taste to the palate.