Spanish Steps

Spanish Steps From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

The piazza di Spagna in an 18th century etching by Giuseppe Vasi, seen from south. The street on the left is Via del Babuino, leading to Piazza del Popolo.

The Spanish Steps (Italian: Scalinata della Trinità dei Monti) are a set of steps in Rome, Italy, climbing a steep slope between the Piazza di Spagna at the base and Piazza Trinità dei Monti, dominated by the church of Trinità dei Monti. The Scalinata is the longest and widest staircase in all Europe.

The monumental stairway of 138 steps was built with French diplomat Étienne Gueffier’s bequeathed funds of 20,000 scudi, in 1723–1725, linking the Bourbon Spanish Embassy to the Holy See, today still located in Palazzo Monaldeschi in the piazza below, with the Trinità dei Monti above.

Initially the piazza was divided into two parts, the French Square (because the French ambassador resided there - Trinità dei Monti was patroned by the French government) and the Spanish Square. The steps themselves, however, came to be called Spanish Steps after the Spanish Square (which was called Spanish because the Spanish embassy to the Holy See was – and is - located there). For a while, in the 17th century, the entire Piazza di Spagna was considered Spanish territory. Apparently foreigners unwittingly trespassing into the area could even find themselves all of a sudden to be soldiers in the Spanish army.