Spanish Steps

The Spanish Steps (1723–1725) climb from the square to the French church of Trinità dei Monti. At the foot lies the Barcaccia fountain by Pietro Bernini, with help from his son Gian Lorenzo. The poet John Keats died in 1821 in the house to the right of the steps, now a museum.

Did you know: Sitting or eating on the steps is not allowed: Rome's city regulations forbid it to protect the monument.

✦ The legend: The boat-shaped fountain at the foot of the steps, the Barcaccia, owes its shape — so the story goes — to the great Tiber flood of 1598: when the waters withdrew, a boat was said to have been left stranded on this very spot, and Pietro Bernini turned it into a fountain. The technical explanation is less poetic: the water arrived at low pressure, and a sunken basin was the only way to make it play.