2023-08-20 13:29:00
It is a film backdrop, the scene of romantic childhood memories and a must for tourists: the Spanish Steps are a unique baroque monument in the heart of Rome. Construction work began 300 years ago.
The best time to visit the Spanish Steps is early in the morning. Especially in summer, when the morning light sets the scene for the mighty complex. When groups of tourists don’t already crowd the steps and huddle together to snap iconic selfies. “We and the stairs,” it says then.
Angela and her Detroit family of four didn’t make it quite that early. It’s 9am – already too hot to climb the 136 steps. So, following the obligatory self-portrait down at the Piazza di Spagna, look up at the end of the “Spanish Steps”. “I think she’s really beautiful,” says Angela. She likes the border and the fact that the stairs go up in two curves from the middle level. “It reminds me of San Francisco.”
Climbing a muddy slope
For art historian Susanne Kubersky, the stairs are part of her daily commute to work. She arrives downstairs by metro. And then has to take the stairs to get to her office. “That’s exactly what I like so much,” says the scientist. “To have the privilege of walking up these beautiful stairs every morning and to think that I am now crossing 2000 years of Roman history.”
Kubersky works in the “Bibliotheca Hertziana”. The Max Planck Institute for Art History in Rome resides in a prominent neighborhood at the top of the Spanish Steps. The villa of the Roman general Lukull used to be here. Therefore 2000 years of Roman history. Today it is the famous Hotel Hassler and the church to which the steps actually lead: the Santissima Trinità dei Monti. Year of construction 1587.
“To get to this church, you had to walk up a muddy slope under trees,” explains Kubersky. This staircase was planned a long time ago to make the ascent easier. “But in fact it was executed in the Baroque period in the 18th century and was planned as a scenographic installation. So it’s actually a magnificent staircase.”
Protecting power France sponsored the construction
Construction work on the Spanish Steps began in 1723. Architect Francesco de Sanctis was never only concerned with overcoming 23 meters in altitude. He saw the stairs as a stage: 40 meters wide and as a demonstration of power. The construction was largely sponsored by France, the protector of the popes. Sun King Louis XIV originally saw himself at the bottom of the stairs – in the form of an equestrian statue. That was too much muscle flexing for the Pope.
Today, the Spanish Steps serve a very different purpose. In the evening it becomes a party zone. “It’s also a meeting point that nobody can get past and that everyone will remember,” says Kubersky. “And of course it’s also a place where young people like to sit down, where you can meet, where people also speak to you.”
Celebrating on the stairs is forbidden
There’s just one thing you shouldn’t do today: sit on the steps, possibly with a bottle of red wine, as was common on school trips in decades past. The city of Rome sanctions any attempt to celebrate parties on the stairs, as the ever-present police officers explain.
“Anyone who sits down has to expect a fine of 450 euros, explains a police officer. “It gets worse if someone smears the monument. But we’re trying to prevent anyone from having to pay 450 euros.”
Anyone who sits on the steps will, if necessary, be reminded by the police with a whistle that it might be expensive. They are only merciful in the morning and let the few tourists rest in the shade on the steps.
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