Garibaldi Plaza

The Garibaldi Square, in Mexico City

The Garibaldi Square is one of the most lively squares of Mexico City, famous throughout the country for its mariachis who play there at any hour. The Mexico City audio-guided tour stops here to evoke this high place of Mexican music, that owes its name to Peppino Garibaldi, and the tradition born around the Salón Tenampa, become a symbol of the festive soul of Mexico.

The meeting place of the mariachis

Here you are on one of the most lively squares of the city. It is here that you will find, at any hour of the day and night, mariachis playing a music that attracts the Mexicans as much as the visitors. The square bears the name of Peppino Garibaldi, an Italian lieutenant-colonel who played an important role in the Mexican Revolution. It is thanks to Mexican cinema that the culture of the mariachis knew such a rise: in the 1930s was born a new cinematographic genre, called Charro, that soon became very popular throughout the country. In these films appeared almost always mariachis singing and playing music for the ladies. You find moreover on the square a former hall, the Salón Tenampa, that hosted regularly, from the 1920s, groups of mariachis. The Garibaldi Square thus became the meeting place of these musicians come to play for the passers-by, originally engaged by gentlemen to serenade their beloved. A tradition perpetuated until today: dressed in their embroidered costumes and capped with wide sombreros, the mariachis perform there rancheras and boleros in a warm and festive atmosphere. You also find there cantinas and the museum of Tequila and Mezcal. A festive square and a temple of the mariachis, the Garibaldi Square is a fine stop of the discovery of Mexico City.

What to see

Here you discover one of the most lively squares of Mexico City, famous for its mariachis who play there at any hour rancheras and boleros, in embroidered costumes and wide sombreros; named after Peppino Garibaldi, it saw this tradition born around the Salón Tenampa and the Charro cinema of the 1930s, and also shelters the museum of Tequila and Mezcal. The Garibaldi Square is the temple of the mariachis. It is a fine stop, to be explored on foot.

Practical information

The Garibaldi Square lies in the centre of Mexico City, north of the Alameda Central, reachable on foot or by metro. It is a public square freely accessible, animated by the mariachis especially in the evening and at the weekend, lined with cantinas. It is best to go there in the evening to enjoy the atmosphere, remaining attentive as in any very frequented place.

Why is the Garibaldi Square of Mexico City famous?

Because it is the great meeting place of the mariachis, who play there at any hour rancheras and boleros in embroidered costumes and wide sombreros; named after Peppino Garibaldi, hero of the Mexican Revolution, the square saw this tradition born around the Salón Tenampa of the 1920s and the Charro cinema of the 1930s, and also shelters the museum of Tequila and Mezcal.

Where is the Garibaldi Square in Mexico City?

In the centre of Mexico City, north of the Alameda Central, in Mexico.