Vicálvaro is a district in the southeast of Madrid, Spain, and a former municipality in its own right.

History
When Spain's Civil Guard (Spanish: Guardia Civil) was established in 1844, the first headquarters of its cavalry was in Vicálvaro. Franco converted it into an artillery barracks for the Brunete Armored Division, Regiment No. 11. The building is now part of the Rey Juan Carlos University.
Vicálvaro was the site of Leopoldo O'Donnell's 1854 coup known as La Vicalvarada, which began Spain's Bienio progresista.

Geography
Position
It is bordered on the west by the district of Moratalaz (across the Autopista de Circunvalación M-40), on the north by San Blas (across the M-40, the Avenida de Canillejas a Vicálvaro, the Autopista Radial 3 and the Vicálvaro-Coslada Highway), on the south by the Puente de Vallecas and the Villa de Vallecas (across Autovía A-3) and on the east by the municipalities of Coslada, San Fernando de Henares and Rivas-Vaciamadrid.

Subdivision:
The district is administratively divided into 2 wards (Barrios):
Ambroz
Casco Histórico de Vicálvaro (historic Vicálvaro)
In fact, however, it effectively has three districts: Vicálvaro, Valdebernardo, and Valderrivas.
The former municipality of Vicálvaro was absorbed into Madrid in 1951. Around its historic center are the nearby neighborhoods (known locally as poblados, colonias or barrios) of San Juan, Mil Viviendas, Las Cruces y Anillo Verde. Several of these cross the boundary between the two official barrios. West of the historic center of Vicálvaro, but entirely within the official barrio of Vicálvaro, is a second center at Valdebernardo, developed in the 1990s.
Finally, since 1998, Valderrivas has been developed on the land of a former cement factory operated 1923-1995 by Cementos Portland Valderrivas. This also falls within the official barrio of Vicálvaro. Portland moved their cement production to Morata de Tajuña because municipal ordinances raised increasing environmental issues. They sold their land, 40 percent of which was granted permits as being suitable for urban development; Portland also took charge of the ensuing construction. In the process, they tore down the chimney that had for decades been emblematic of Vicálvaro. Also in the Valderrivas area is a new neighborhood called La Catalana, near the border with of the Coslada district. La Catalana is mainly commercial.