The relentlessly-photographed Spanish Steps are one of the most popular landmarks in Rome. They're billed as the widest staircase in Europe, and any summer afternoon, they can be seen crawling with tourists. Their name is somewhat confusing, as they're obviously Italian (being in Rome, duh), rather than Spanish. To add to the confusion, they were built by the French. This happened in 1723-25, when the French felt a need to connect the Trinita dei Monti church at the top, which was under Bourbon patronage, with the Spanish embassy (Spain was under the control of the Bourbons at the time) in the Piazza at the bottom. Rather than calling them French Steps or Bourbon Steps, someone decided they should be called Spanish Steps. They were designed by Italians, Francesco de Sanctis and Alessandro Specchi.

We'd walked by the steps earlier, on the way to our appointment at the Borghese Gallery, but we didn't have time to examine them properly. A shame, as they were a lot less crowded in the morning.


In front of the Trinita dei Monti church at the top of the steps is an obelisk which looks Egyptian, but which is really of Roman origin. The hieroglyphics on it were copied from the obelisk in the Piazza del Popolo, which really is Egyptian. The Piazza at the bottom of the stairs is called the Piazza di Spagna, and in the Piazza is a fountain called the Fontana della Barcaccia (or "Fountain of the Old Boat"). The fountain is thought to have been designed in 1627-29 by Pietro Bernini, father of Gian Lorenzo.

Facing the Piazza is a house which was lived in by the poet John Keats, who died there in 1821, and which is now a museum dedicated to Romantic poets.

But when you talk about history, it's impossible to ignore the landmark further to the right of the steps - the first McDonald's in Italy, which opened there in 1986. After taking some pictures of the Steps, this is where we headed. We found the packaging to be somewhat different, but the food was pretty much the same thing as in the U.S.


From the Piazza di Spagna, we got back on the Metro and headed for the Colosseo stop, to go see that other indispensible landmark, the Roman Colosseum.