The Spanish Steps were built with money granted to the city in the 17th century by Etiene Gueffier, a representative of the king of France. A drawn-out contest over the terms of Gueffier's will delayed the project for several decades. A controversy also arose over the plan to raise a statute of the French King Louis XIV at the top of the hill.
The steps were designed by the architect Francesco de Sanctis, winner of a competition held at the direction of Pope Innocent XII in 1717. De Sanctis designed a series of 12 ramps, which gradually widen down the hill in the shape of a fan. Completed in 1725, the steps formed a symbolic and physical link between the king of Spain, whose embassy lay at the base of the hill, and the Catholic Church and the papacy, which had its headquarters in Rome.
The Spanish Steps are a popular meeting place for citizens of Rome as well as visitors. A small flower market takes place at the base of the steps every day. In spring, azaleas and other flowering plants decorate the steps. The Steps have been featured in many films and have been the subject of countless paintings and photographic studies.
Another point of interest at the base of the Scalinata is the Fontana della Barcaccia, a small fountain in the form of a boat, which was designed by Pietro Bernini and placed in the piazza in 1629. The fountain was inspired by the tradition of a flood of the Tiber River, which carried a small fishing boat to this spot in 1598. Bernini placed the fountain's jets below street level to better control the flow of water from nearby underground reservoirs.
To the right of the steps is the Keats-Shelley House, a small museum dedicated to the Romantic English poets and John Keats. The small apartment holding the museum was the home of Keats for several months before his death from tuberculosis in 1821.
