The Spanish Steps

The stairway of 137 steps is located between Piazza di Spagna at the base and Piazza Trinità dei Monti. Designed by Francesco De Sanctis and Alessandro Specchi, the steps were built with funds from the French diplomat Stefano Gueffier’s in order to unite Via del Babuino (the easternmost of the three main arteries radiating into the city from the Piazza del Popolo) with Via Felice, the first great street planned by Sixtus V (1585). In the 18th century , the steps were the place where the most beautiful Italians gathered, waiting to be chosen as an artist's model.

Located near the Spanish Steps, tourist visit the house where John Keats died in 1821, which is now called the Keats-Shelley Memorial House. Open from 9 am to 1 pm and 2.30 to 5.30 pm, Monday to Friday, the museum hosts pieces of Keats, Percy Bysshe Shelley, Mary Shelley or Lord Byron, basically many memorabilia of the English Romantic generation.

Today, the Spanish steps is one most popular meeting places in Rome both for tourists and the citizens of Rome. The monument added a lot to the real estate value of Piazza di Spagna and most of the present buildings were replaced by new ones. Guided tours of the villa's spectacular gardens take place at 10.30 and 11.30 am on Saturday and Sunday from March to late May and from September to late October. Travel around Italy at your Leisure with a Car Hire from Argus. They offer good value prices all year round