Piazza di Spagna & Scalinata di Trinità dei Monti
138 steps rising from the Barcaccia fountain to the twin bell towers of Trinità dei Monti — Rome's most photographed staircase and the traditional gathering point for the city's fashion crowd. Sitting on the steps is now banned and fined; admire from the sides instead.
The steps take their name from the Spanish Embassy that has stood in the piazza below since the seventeenth century, not from any Spanish role in building them — the staircase itself was funded by a French diplomat's bequest and completed in 1725, linking the piazza to the French church of Trinità dei Monti above. The fine for sitting is real and enforced by local police, but the low walls at the sides of the staircase and the streets leading up from the piazza remain fair game for a rest. Early evening, as the façade of Trinità dei Monti catches the last light, is the best time to see the steps before the dinner crowds arrive.
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The name is the first misunderstanding. The steps take it from the Spanish Embassy that's stood in the piazza below since the seventeenth century — the staircase itself has no Spanish involvement at all. It was funded by a French diplomat's bequest and completed in 1725, built specifically to connect the piazza to the French church of Trinità dei Monti on the hill above.
One hundred and thirty-eight steps, and since 2019, you're not allowed to sit on any of them.
The sitting ban is real, and it's enforced
Rome introduced fines of up to €400 for sitting on the steps in 2019, part of a wider crackdown on tourist behaviour at the city's monuments, and local police do enforce it — this isn't an empty rule that everyone quietly ignores. What's still fair game: the low walls at the sides of the staircase, and the streets leading up from the piazza, where an actual bench or ledge occasionally appears.
The rule exists because of genuine wear on the eighteenth-century travertine, worsened by exactly the kind of daily crowd-sitting the steps used to be famous for.
The fountain at the bottom that predates the steps
The Barcaccia fountain, the low boat-shaped fountain at the foot of the staircase, was built decades before the steps themselves, by Pietro Bernini — father of the more famous Gian Lorenzo. Its unusually low design is generally explained by the poor water pressure in this part of Rome at the time, which made a tall, dramatic fountain structurally impractical.
Just beside the steps, the Keats-Shelley House marks the building where the poet John Keats died in 1821, now a small museum dedicated to the English Romantic poets who gathered in this part of Rome.
When to actually come
Early evening, as the façade of Trinità dei Monti catches the last light, is the best window before the dinner-hour crowds arrive — and the steps are genuinely striking against that particular gold-pink Roman evening light. The piazza itself has functioned as a gathering point for Rome's fashion and design crowd for decades, with the surrounding streets — Via Condotti chief among them — holding the city's most expensive shopping.
Avoid midday in summer entirely if crowds bother you; it's one of the most-visited single spots in the historic centre and shows it.
Piazza di Spagna & Scalinata di Trinità dei Monti: common questions
01Can you sit on the Spanish Steps?
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No — sitting has been banned and fined since 2019, with penalties up to €400, and it's actively enforced by local police. The low walls at the sides of the staircase remain a legal alternative for a rest.
02Why are they called the Spanish Steps if they're not in Spain?
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They're named for the Spanish Embassy that has stood in the piazza below since the seventeenth century, not for any Spanish involvement in building them. The staircase itself was funded by a French bequest.
03How many Spanish Steps are there?
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138 steps, rising from the Barcaccia fountain in Piazza di Spagna to the church of Trinità dei Monti above.
04What is the best time to visit the Spanish Steps?
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Early evening, when the church façade above catches the last light and the crowds have thinned before dinner. Midday in summer is the busiest and least comfortable window.