This point sits partway up the Spanish Steps, the monumental stairway linking Piazza di Spagna to the church of Trinità dei Monti.
Last reviewed 4 October 2026 · A three-minute read · 60 BC–2024
The short answer
The Scalinata della Trinità dei Monti, known as the Spanish Steps, is a Baroque staircase of eleven ramps built between 1723 and 1725 to designs by Francesco de Sanctis, linking Piazza di Spagna to the French church of Trinità dei Monti in Rome, after a project delayed for decades by a contested will.
Spanish Steps, Rome — 2008 · Michal Osmenda from Brussels, Belgium · CC BY-SA 2.0
1723 to 1725
A staircase waited over a century to be built
The Spanish Steps are a monumental stone staircase, still open to the public and one of the most visited spots in Rome. From partway up, the view runs down to Piazza di Spagna and the Fontana della Barcaccia below, and up toward the twin bell towers of Chiesa della Trinità dei Monti.
The idea for a staircase here was old before a single stone was cut. Pope Gregory XIII had drawings made for one in the 1580s. The French diplomat Étienne Gueffier died in 1660 and left part of his fortune to build it, though a nephew later fought the will in court. Cardinal Mazarin took up the project and gathered designs, including one with an equestrian statue of Louis XIV. That plan collapsed when Mazarin died in 1661 and the pope died soon after.
The project sat untouched for decades. Pope Clement XI finally revived it, and in 1717 he held a competition for the design. Francesco de Sanctis won it, working alongside Alessandro Specchi, though historians still argue over how much credit each man deserves. Construction ran from 1723 to 1725, paid for largely with French money, since the church at the top was under French royal patronage.
Pope Benedict XIII opened the finished stairs in 1725, during a Jubilee year. The result was a stretch of eleven ramps and terraces, built wide enough to be called the longest and widest staircase in Europe. Carved into the balustrades are the French fleur-de-lys and the eagle of the Albani family, Clement XI's own.
1821
Keats died in a room overlooking the steps
Beside the foot of the steps stands the house where the English poet John Keats spent his last months. He arrived in Rome in November 1820, already dying of tuberculosis, hoping the warmer climate might save him. It did not. Keats died in a small room overlooking the steps on February 23, 1821, at age twenty-five. Roman health laws at the time required the room to be stripped and its contents burned after his death. The building is now the Keats-Shelley Memorial House, holding letters, books and memorabilia tied to Keats and his friend Percy Bysshe Shelley.
1953 to 1999
Film made the steps one of the world's most photographed
By the twentieth century, the steps had become one of the most photographed spots in the world. Audrey Hepburn and Gregory Peck sat on them eating gelato in the 1953 film Roman Holiday, a scene that sent the steps into postcards everywhere. Decades later they turned up again in The Talented Mr. Ripley. Roman officials spent years trying to stop tourists from treating the steps as a picnic spot, with limited success.
2015 to 2016
Bulgari paid to restore worn travertine stone
By the early 2000s, decades of feet and weather had worn the travertine stone badly. The Italian luxury brand Bulgari, whose flagship store sits nearby on Via dei Condotti, paid for a full restoration starting in October 2015. More than eighty workers cleaned and repaired almost 32,300 square feet of stone, brick, marble and plaster. The steps reopened to the public on September 21, 2016, close to their original look.
2019 to now
Cars twice mistook the stairway for a road
Rome's city government moved to protect the restored stairs. Since August 2019, rules ban sitting on the steps, eating on them, and dragging wheeled suitcases or folding chairs up and down. The fines run as high as 400 euros for damaging or dirtying the stone. The rules have not stopped the crowds. In June 2024, activists from a group called Bruciamo Tutto poured red paint down the steps and left handprints to protest violence against women in Italy; police detained them. That same month, a 55-year-old tourist from Spain fell from a high wall beside the steps near Piazza della Trinità dei Monti and later died in the hospital. Drivers have twice mistaken the stairway for a road. In June 2025, an 80-year-old man drove his Mercedes down the steps at night before police stopped him; firefighters had to crane the car out. Two months later, a Jeep driver started down the steps before realizing the mistake and backing out.
In 2024, France listed the Spanish Steps among a set of properties it considers French heritage, since French money and French royal patronage built the church and staircase together. Italy has not agreed, and the two countries have yet to settle the question.
The steps marked their 300th anniversary in 2025. The Keats-Shelley House, standing where the poet died two centuries earlier, marked the occasion with an exhibition called "The Spanish Steps, Revisited."
The staircase still climbs from Piazza di Spagna to the church of Trinità dei Monti, its eleven ramps crowded with visitors every day of the year.
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Built under the patronage of the French crown and finished by 1502-era construction phases, the church stands at the top of the staircase the steps were built to reach.
French diplomat Étienne Gueffier left money in 1660 to fund the stairs, but Cardinal Mazarin's death and a contested will left the project dormant for decades.
Pope Benedict XIII inaugurated the 135-step staircase in 1725, designed by Francesco de Sanctis to connect Piazza di Spagna to the church of Trinità dei Monti above.
In June 2024 members of the group Bruciamo Tutto poured red paint down the 135 steps and left handprints to protest violence against women, before police detained them.
What was here before the Spanish Steps were built?
The site sat as an unbuilt slope for over a century while plans by Pope Gregory XIII, French diplomat Étienne Gueffier, and Cardinal Mazarin failed to produce a finished staircase, until Pope Clement XI revived the project in 1717.
What happened at the Spanish Steps in 1821?
The English poet John Keats died in a room overlooking the steps on February 23, 1821, at age twenty-five, having come to Rome hoping its climate would ease his tuberculosis. Roman health law required the room's contents to be burned afterward.
Who built the Spanish Steps?
Francesco de Sanctis won a 1717 competition to design the staircase, working alongside Alessandro Specchi, and construction ran from 1723 to 1725, funded largely with French money tied to the church of Trinità dei Monti above.
Why were the Spanish Steps restored in 2015?
Decades of foot traffic and weather had badly worn the travertine stone, so the Italian brand Bulgari funded a restoration starting in October 2015 that cleaned almost 32,300 square feet of stone, brick, marble and plaster, reopening in September 2016.
Can tourists sit on the Spanish Steps?
Since August 2019, Rome's city government has banned sitting, eating, and dragging wheeled luggage or chairs on the steps, with fines up to 400 euros for damaging or dirtying the stone.
Has anything unusual happened on the Spanish Steps recently?
In June 2024 activists from the group Bruciamo Tutto poured red paint down the steps to protest violence against women, and in June 2025 an 80-year-old man drove a Mercedes down the staircase at night before police and firefighters removed it.
Where this came from
1
Wikipedia — The Spanish Steps were built to link the piazza to a French church
2
Wikipedia — John Keats died in the house at the foot of the steps
3
History Hit — The staircase project was stalled by a dead cardinal and a disputed will
