Rome’s Spanish steps are an iconic image of the city. People have loitered on the stairs since the 16th century. Not everyone knows the reason behind the name. Why would it be the Spanish steps when it’s in Italy?

The Spanish connection

The staircase is the Scalinata della Trinità dei Monti¹ because of the Church and convent of the Trinita Dei Monti (Trinity of the Mountains) at its top. At the foot of the staircase is Piazza di Spagna (Spain’s square) because this is where the Spanish Embassy is. The Spaniards have had an embassy here since the early 17th century¹.

Close by is Rasella way (Via Rasella) where the Italian resistance bombed the German army in World War II.

At first they rented the Monaldeschi Palace from the family of the same name before buying it from them in 1654. This became the permanent residence of Spanish ambassadors to the Holy See.  The staircase took its name from the square. This is unfair because what did the Spaniards have to do with the staircase?

The French connection

In the same year – 1654 – French Cardinal Mazarin suggested a majestic staircase² between this square and the church¹. French King Charles VIII had built the church and convent about 300 years before³. To this day the church is French state property³.

Mazarin’s original idea included a huge equestrian statue of the French King². The papacy wasn’t keen on the idea of commemorating a French King in Rome². It took till 1720⁴, for papal authorities to approve the idea of this staircase¹ – without the statue².

An unnamed French diplomat left a legacy to fund the construction of the staircase¹. He wanted to celebrate the peace treaty between France and Spain⁴. Connecting something French and something Spanish felt appropriate.

Francesco de’ Sanctis built the staircase between 1723 and 1726⁴.

Now that the staircase wasn’t going to be a celebration of France’s King, the designs had to reflect this. The staircase had three flights of stairs leading up to the church dedicated to the Trinity.

The repetition of the number 3 is no coincidence. The three flights of steps refer to the Holy Trinity in Roman Catholic tradition⁴.

And so the Spanish Steps are actually French.

1. Piazza di Spagna; Encyclopedia Brittanica; 2019-02-21[↩][↩][↩][↩][↩]
2. Roma Interactive; Piazza di Spagna; (Retrieved 2019-10-28) [↩][↩][↩][↩]
3. Rome in the Footsteps of an XVIIIth Century Traveller; Rome Art Lover; (Retrieved 2019-10-28) [↩][↩]
4. Architectural Temperance: Spain and Rome, 1700-1759; Victor Deupi; 2015-03-05[↩][↩][↩][↩]