Spanish Steps, Piazza di Spagna, Rome

The masterpiece of 18^thcentury, a square having irregular shape but one of the most visually pleasing and one of the most popular meeting spots in Rome known as Piazza de Spagna. The place is a combination of three popular items including a long staircase, an obelisk (stone piller), and a stylish church. The Piazza de Spagna, also known as Spanish Square, is connected to a French Church located atop a hill called Trinita dei Monti, through a staircase (a long staircase) called Scalinata della Trinita dei Monti, best known as Spanish Steps. Spanish steps were built between 1723 –1726 to connect the church with the square below. The monumental staircase was built on the request of Innocent XII, and created by Italian architect Francisco de Sanctis.

The elegant staircase consists of 137 steps, usually very crowded with tourists as well as locals who use it as a gathering place, especially decorated with flowers in summer (in month of May when the ramps of the staircase are literally covered with flowers and the architecture is playfully lost beneath a magnificent array of color) and hosts a famous fashion show.

Trinita dei Monti (Church at Spanish Steps)

The building of church is beautiful and located on a hill, the Spanish steps can take to straight to the site. This square make the Trinita dei Monti (the Church) a popular land-mark in Rome. From here tourists can enjoy a nice view of the city. According to history, before 1495 there was only a small building existed on the hill. French King Louis XII decided to replace chapel with a new church. The construction started for new building in 1502. But it went on for many decades and completed in 1585. The façade of the church has two bell towers. While inside the building several paintings decorate the different chapels.

In front of church an obelisk is located, transported from the Gardens of Sallust where it was originally located, on the request o pope Pius VI in 1788.

Fontana della Barcaccia (Fountain at Spanish Steps)

Fontana della Barcaccia (Fountain at Spanish Steps)

In the front of Spanish Steps stands the Fontana della Barcaccia, the famous Barcaccia Fountain was designed by Pietro Bernini and his son Gian Lorenzo. The son Gian Lorenzo went on to become the creator of some of the most important masterpieces of Baroque art in the city. The Bernini’s design shows a sinking boat at the center of basin, the fountain recalls the historic flood of the River Tiber in 1598, when a small boat stranded here after the water subsided.

Crowd at Spanish Steps

Italian artist Graziano Cecchini covered the Steps with hundreds of thousands of multicolored plastic balls on January 16, 2008.

The Spanish Steps are featured in a scene in film entitled “The Man From U.N.C.L.E. released in 2015.
There are some night views of Spanish Steps

A Night View of Spanish Steps

A Night View of Spanish Steps

A Night View of Spanish Steps