bullring), put up in September 2000. .
Early life Santiago Martín Sánchez was born on 18 July 1938 in the village of
Vitigudino in the
Province of Salamanca. His father ran a workshop for farm carts. El Viti's family had no background in
bullfighting whatsoever. Nonetheless, El Viti has been the first great bullfighter to be raised in Salamanca, at the height of the livestock-raising boom in that province. He travelled back and forth across the Salamancan countryside as a youngster to attend
capeas (rural, somewhat less than professional-level bullfights), and he first donned the
suit of lights in August 1956, at the bullring in
Ledesma. Another source says that he first stood before a bovine adversary at Vitigudino on the occasion of the
Feast of Corpus Christi in 1955 (and therefore on or about 9 June that year), although nothing is said about him wearing a suit of lights that day.
Career as a matador El Viti took his
alternativa in Madrid on 13 May 1961, during the
Feria de San Isidro ("
Saint Isidore's Fair" — a yearly event at Las Ventas), with
Toledo's Gregorio Sánchez standing as "godfather", while Diego Puerta bore witness. The bulls were laid on by the Alipio Pérez-Tabernero ranch. El Viti himself was borne shoulder-high all the way to his hotel. A poster advertising the event can be seen at right. In 1963, El Viti fought at 73 engagements, and the next year, at 77. Although a bullfight in
Pamplona on 10 July 1964 ended in great triumph and he was awarded the bull's tail, he rejected it, along with Diego Puerta and Paco Camino. In 1966, he found himself at 68 bullfighting engagements, but at one of them, held in
Bogotá, he suffered yet another serious goring. He saw 64 engagements the following year, but the woundings kept on coming; there were three, in Barcelona and
Málaga in his homeland, and at the
Plaza de toros de Acho in Lima over in Peru. He was also a favourite bullfighter among the demanding public at the
plaza de toros de la Real Maestranza de Caballería de Sevilla, even though he was not
Andalusian. Greatly influenced as he was by
Juan Belmonte's aesthetic, he for years represented the seriousness and neoclassical tradition in tauromachy, being considered by critics to be one of history's best-skilled bullfighters with the muleta. Furthermore, he was acclaimed for the
faena at the Plaza México on 4 January 1970 with the bull Aventurero ("Adventurer"), from the Tequisquiapan ranch (Alfredo Leal reaped two ears — but also a serious goring; Solórzano hijo rounded out the bill). On 17 April 1969 at the
Maestranza in
Seville, El Viti had a triumphant afternoon alternating with Palomo Linares and Ángel Teruel as they fought and slew bulls from the Lisardo Sánchez ranch. He reaped two ears. • 13 May 1961, after being awarded one ear from each of his two bulls that afternoon, both from the Alipio Pérez-Tabernero Sanchón (the day's first) and Escudero Calvo (the day's sixth) ranches; this was his first time through the Great Gate after his
alternativa — and indeed, it came on the very day of his
alternativa.
Later life The 1979 bullfighting season was El Viti's last. He saw great success at the Maestranza in Seville on the afternoon of 24 April, before
Curro Romero and Tomás Campuzano (who was taking his
alternativa), and was awarded the Maestranza Trophy for the
fair's best muleta work. His penultimate appearance took place on 14 September on home ground, in Salamanca, sharing the billing with Niño de la Capea and
Julio Robles as all three fought bulls from the Atanasio Fernández ranch. He cut two ears. He retired from the bullrings in
Valladolid, at the end of the bullfighting season on 16 September 1979. It all ended rather sadly; he was not successful, and he even got abuse from the crowd on his last bull. El Viti had fought in more than 800
corridas. A statue in El Viti's honour stands in Salamanca on the bullring's esplanade. It is a
bronze, life-size figure standing on a
granite pedestal and holding a muleta with the left hand, hanging down and behind the figure somewhat, and holding a
montera up with the right hand. The whole is 2.30 m tall. The sculptor who created it was Narcisa Vicente Rodríguez, from Salamanca, and her work was unveiled on 8 September 2000. The plaque – also bronze – simply reads "SALAMANCA A S.M. 'EL VITI' SEPTIEMBRE 2000" ("a" simply means "to"). Another statue in El Viti's honour stands at a square bearing his name in the little town where he was born, Vitigudino. It was unveiled by El Viti himself on 18 June 2011. On 1 July 2022, El Viti's wife, Mari Carmen García Cobaleda, whom he had wed on 28 November 1968, died after a long illness. She was a bull-rancher's daughter from
Castraz, and was El Viti's inseparable companion. ==Style==