Spanish Steps | |
|---|---|
| Stairway | |
| Scalinata di Trinità dei Monti (Italian) | |
_0004.jpg) The Spanish Steps, seen from Piazza di Spagna. In the foreground is theFontana della Barcaccia. | |
| Design | Francesco de Sanctis |
| Construction | 1723–1725 |
| Opening date | 1725 |
| Steps | 135 |
| Height | 29 metres |
| Location | Rome |
 Click on the map to see marker | |
| Coordinates:41°54′22″N12°28′58″E / 41.9061°N 12.4828°E /41.9061; 12.4828s | |
TheSpanish Steps (Italian:Scalinata di Trinità dei Monti) inRome,Italy, climb a steep slope betweenPiazza di Spagna at the base and Piazza Trinità dei Monti, dominated by theTrinità dei Monti church, at the top.
The monumentalstairway of 135 steps[1] is linked with the Trinità dei Monti church, under the patronage of theBourbon kings of France, at the top of the steps and the Spanish Embassy to theHoly See in the Palazzo Monaldeschi at the bottom of the steps. The stairway was designed by the architectsFrancesco de Sanctis andAlessandro Specchi.
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Generations of heated debate over how the steep, 29-metre (95 ft) slope[2] to the church on a shoulder of thePincio should beurbanized preceded the final execution. Archival drawings from the 1580s show thatPope Gregory XIII was interested in constructing a stair to the recently completed façade of the French church.
French diplomat to the Holy See Étienne Gueffier died in 1660, leaving part of his fortune for the construction of the stairs. The Roman-educatedCardinal Mazarin took a personal interest in the project and entrusted it to his agent in Rome—whose plan included an equestrian monument ofLouis XIV of France—an ambitious intrusion that created a furore in papal Rome. Mazarin died in 1661 and the pope in 1667, while Gueffier's will was successfully contested by a nephew who claimed half, so the project lay dormant untilPope Clement XI Albani renewed interest in it in the early 18th century.
A competition held in 1717 was won byFrancesco de Sanctis, though Alessandro Specchi was long thought to have produced the winning entry. Little is known of the architect, who was favored by the French in the design process. His drawing was engraved by Girolamo Rossi in 1726, with a long dedication to Louis XV.[3]
The solution is a gigantic inflation of some conventions of terracedgarden stairs. The first such divided and symmetrical stairs were devised for theBelvedere Courtyard in the 1600s byDonato Bramante, while shaped and angled steps were introduced byMichelangelo in the vestibule to theLaurentian Library. The Bourbonfleur-de-lys and Innocent XIII's eagle and crown are carefully balanced in the sculptural details.
Mid-18th century writersJoseph de Lalande[4] andCharles de Brosses noted that the steps were already in poor condition.[5] They have been restored several times since, including from May to December 1995.[6]
Sponsored by the Italian luxury brandBulgari (which has its Italian flagship store in the nearby Via dei Condotti) a new renovation commenced on 8 October 2015, with the steps being reopened to the public on 21 September 2016.[7] The restoration of the almost 32,300 square feet (3,000 m2) oftravertine stone, as well as brick, marble and plaster employed more than 80 people and cost €1.5 million.[8]
Over the years, several city administrations have tried to dissuade visitors from getting too comfortable on the steps, banning loitering and eating, but the ordinances have not been enforced. However, in July 2019 the administration of Mayor Virginia Raggi, as part of an attempt to get ill-mannered tourists to behave themselves in Rome, introduced more stringent ordinances designed to "guarantee decorum, security and legality".[9] These regulations allow for fines of €250 for sitting down on the steps and up to €400 for dirtying or damaging the steps (including eating on them or pushing a pram up or down them).[10]
In the Piazza di Spagna at the base is theEarly Baroque fountain calledFontana della Barcaccia ("Fountain of the longboat"), built in 1627–29 and often credited toPietro Bernini, father of a more famous son,Gian Lorenzo Bernini, who is recently said to have collaborated on the decoration. The elder Bernini had been the pope's architect for theAcqua Vergine, since 1623. According to a legend,Pope Urban VIII had the fountain installed after he had been impressed by a boat brought here by a flood of theTiber.
In the piazza, at the corner on the right as one begins to climb the steps, is the house where English poetJohn Keats lived and died in 1821; it is now a museum dedicated to his memory, full of memorabilia of the English Romantic generation. On the same right side stands the 15th-century former cardinalLorenzo Cybo de Mari's palace, now Ferrari di Valbona, a building altered in 1936 to designs byMarcello Piacentini, the main city planner duringFascism, with modern terraces perfectly in harmony with the surrounding baroque context.
At the top, the stairway ramp up thePincio which is thePincian Hill. TheVilla Medici can be reached from the top of the steps.
During Christmas time, a 19th-centurycriba manger is displayed on the first landing of the staircase. During springtime, just before the anniversary of the foundation of Rome on 21 April, part of the steps are covered by pots ofazaleas, up until early May. In modern times, the Spanish Steps have included a small cut-flower market. The steps are not a place for eating lunch, being forbidden by Roman urban regulations, but they are usually crowded with people.
In May 2022, a Saudi national drove a rentedMaserati through the steps, descending the first flight of steps before stopping. Fractures were subsequently found on the 16th and 29th steps of the right-hand flight rising up from Piazza di Spagna. The man, who abandoned the car and fled the scene, was later apprehended atMilan Malpensa Airport after being identified through surveillance cameras and was charged with inflicting aggravated damage to cultural heritage and monuments.[11]
In June 2022, two American tourists launched a scooter three times down the steps, damaging the third-to-last travertine step of the second ramp and dislodging a 10-centimeter piece of marble that cost €25,000 ($27,000) in repairs. The couple were apprehended by police, fined €400 each and were banned from the vicinity of the site for two days.[12]
In April 2023, climate protestors fromUltima Generazione poured a charcoal-based black powder into the Fontana della Barcaccia, discoloring its water and leaving stains on its marble surface. The protesters were apprehended by authorities and detained.[13]
The steps are featured in several literary works. Notable examples include:
The filmLe Ragazze di Piazza di Spagna of 1952, directed byLuciano Emmer and starringLiliana Bonfatti,Lucia Bosè,Cosetta Greco, andMarcello Mastroianni, centers on the Spanish Steps.
The filmRoman Holiday (1953), starringAudrey Hepburn andGregory Peck featured the Spanish Steps.
In the 1963 Italiangiallo filmThe Girl Who Knew Too Much, Nora witnesses a murder on the Spanish Steps.
The apartment that was the setting forThe Roman Spring of Mrs. Stone (1961) is halfway up on the right.Bernardo Bertolucci'sBesieged (1998) is also set in a house next to the Steps. The Steps were featured prominently in the film version ofThe Talented Mr. Ripley (1999), starring Matt Damon in the title role.
The Spanish Steps are mentioned (as the Spanish Stairs) in the first verse of the songWhen I Paint My Masterpiece (1971).
In a film for German titledMartha (1974), directed byRainer Werner Fassbinder, the father of the title character (played byMargit Carstensen) dies while climbing the Spanish Steps.
In an episode ofEverybody Loves Raymond (Season 5, Episode 1: Italy) which aired on October 2, 2000, Ray, Debra, Frank, and Marie climb the Spanish Steps during a family vacation in Rome.
An episode of the anime seriesGunslinger Girl, entitled "Gelato (Ice Cream)," which first aired in 2003, features the protagonist by the Spanish Steps having her "reward" of ice cream after having completed a successful raid.
In the filmTo Rome with Love (2012), Hayley (Alison Pill) and Michelangelo Santoli (Flavio Parenti) met on the Spanish Steps.
The Spanish Steps were the setting of a 'Roadblock' task duringThe Amazing Race 24 (2014) in which contestants had to count the steps.[14]
In the 2000 film “It Had To Be You”, it is the dream of the female lead, a school teacher who has never been out of NYC, to go to the Spanish Steps. She and her love interest imagine they are there while in a fountain in Central Park.
The Spanish Steps are featured in a scene in the filmThe Man From U.N.C.L.E. (2015), in which Illya (Armie Hammer), posing as a Russian architect, attempts to explain to Gaby (Alicia Vikander) that the Steps were actually made by a Russian architect.
Midway through the animated filmLove Live! The School Idol Movie: Over the Rainbow (2019), the Steps were featured prominently as the site where the main idol groupAqours performed the main musical number of the film, "Hop? Stop? Nonstop!," during their overseas trip fromNumazu, Japan to Rome.
The Spanish Steps feature in car action scene inFast X (2023).
The Spanish Steps feature in a car chase inMission: Impossible – Dead Reckoning Part One. The end credits assure the viewer that, for the car chase, a replica on a studio backlot was used. The film also premiered on the Spanish Steps on June 19, 2023.
The Spanish Steps appear as part of the Rome Avanti course inMario Kart Tour and subsequently inMario Kart 8 Deluxe, being added to both games in 2023.
On 16 January 2008, the Italian artistGraziano Cecchini covered the Spanish Steps with hundreds of thousands of multicolored plastic balls. He claimed it was done to raise international awareness of the situation of theKaren people in Myanmar,[15] and as a protest against the living conditions of artists in Italy.[16]
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Media related toTrinità dei Monti (Rome) - Scalinata at Wikimedia Commons
| Preceded by Ponte Sisto | Landmarks of Rome Spanish Steps | Succeeded by Appian Way |
| International | |
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| National | |
