The Giraldilla is located in the northwest tower of the Castillo de la Real Fuerza, which is the former military fortification of the oldest colonial period that is preserved in Havana.

The Giraldilla is one of the official symbols of the City of Havana, and is a weather vane of harmonious feminine lines that dominates the Havana landscape from its location in one of the towers of a significant castle of the colonial era existing in the Cuban capital.

It is said that the Giraldilla represents Doña Isabel de Bobadilla, wife of Hernando de Soto, who was Captain General of the Island of Cuba and Adelantado de la Florida in the 16th century.

De Soto ordered the construction of the Castle where the Giraldilla can now be seen to protect Havana from pirate attacks. In 1539 De Soto left for Florida and died there later.

According to the legend, his wife used to sit daily for several hours in the watchtower of the castle, scanning the horizon trying to spot a ship that would bring someone news from her husband. It is estimated that inspired by this legend of love and fidelity, Gerónimo Martín Pinzón, created the statuette identified as La Giraldilla.

Gerónimo Martín Pinzón lived in Havana between 1607 and 1649. Between 1630 and 1634 the then governor of Havana, Juan Bitrián Viamontes, ordered to cast the effigy in bronze and sent it to be placed in the aforementioned castle.

The Giraldilla has a height of 107 centimeters. Its main attributes are the skirt stuck to the body and gathered in folds, a banderole tremola gallarda and a hairstyle of decorative style on which rests a simple crown. From the neck of the bodice hangs a pectoral medallion in which the name of its creator can be read.

The Giraldilla carries in its hands the cross of the Military order of Calatrava, one of the four of cavalry in which the hidalgos and the Spanish nobility militated.

In relation to the Giraldilla, Doctor Eusebio Leal, Historian of the City of Havana, in his book "Havana, ancient city", affirms that such a beautiful figure receives its name with certainty from the one that crowns the Arab tower of the Cathedral of Seville, called Giradillo.