Only a short walk away from HOTEL HOMS enjoy a day or night visit to the Piazza di Spagna and the famous Spanish steps leading up to the Trinità dei Monti Church. Without doubt, a must to see when coming to Rome, for the beautiful square, staircase and church have long been a destination to foreigners both political, religious, and non.
The square and steps get their name from the Spanish Embassy that is found in the immediate area but merit is also due, nonetheless, to the French who have much to do with the history of the area starting with the Church, Trinità dei Monti, found at the top. The beautiful double bell towered church dates back to the turn of the 16th century when King Louis XII of France had the church built next to the monastery founded by his father Charles and dedicated to the Minimi Friars, for the French Catholics who were residing in Rome.
Some years later in 1585,the church was consecrated by Pope Sixtus V around the same time that the Spanish Embassy in its exquisite palace were established in the square. It was the beginning of the foundation of Sixtus's ambitious plan for new urban development.
It wasn't until over a century later that the remarkable stairway leading up to the church began to take life. The design was done by architect Francesco De Sanctis with the objective of linking the Spanish Embassy to the Holy See. The 138 steps, on the 3 flights that compose the staircase, were built between 1723 and 1725 and are aligned with a number of characteristic places like the final residence of English poet John Keats (1795 - 1821), now the Keats-Shelley Memorial House, a small museum displaying memorabilia dedicated to his life and fellow colleagues Percy Bysshe Shelley, Mary Shelley, Lord Byron and other Romantics. Once at the top you will arrive to the area Pincio and the Viale della Trinità dei Monti, the road leading to the Villa Medici. The extravagant Villa was originally built for Cardinal Ricci of Montepulciano in 1540 and later bought by Ferdinando dei Medici in 1576, remaining property of the Medici family until 1801 when it was acquired by Napoleon. The French academy, a branch of the Royal Academy of Painting and Sculpturein Paris, founded in 1666 to offer programs to provide talented French artists, writers and musicians an opportunity to study, the most significant being the establishment of the Prix de Rome in 1674, an award given to the most promising painters, sculptors, and (after 1720) architects, for a period of three to five years of study in Rome, was transferred to the Villa and can be visited during Spring and Autumn.
In Spring, the steps begin to take color in a frame of thousands of colourful flowers.
Then and now, these steps represent a gathering place for locals and tourists alike where artists gather to display their talents and hope to earn money for their efforts.
The Piazza below the steps holds its share of things to see as well, like the interesting fountain of the little "ugly" boat known in Italian as the "Baraccia". This early Baroque fountain is accredited to Gian Lorenzo Bernini, father of Pietro Bernini.
The creation of the fountain was due to the wishes of Pope Urban VIII who remained impressed with a boat he saw washed up on the Tiber after a flood and wanted a reproduction of it to decorate the piazza.