The Barcaccia fountain
A marble boat foundering, carved in 1629 — its shape a fix for weak water pressure, its water drinkable.
Hugo DK — CC BY-SA 4.0 · Diego Delso — CC BY-SA 4.0 · Diego Delso — CC BY-SA 4.0 · Jebulon — CC0
The piazza is the lower level, with the Barcaccia fountain and the shopping streets; the steps climb from it to the church of Trinità dei Monti. You see both in one visit.
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The square at the foot of the Spanish Steps, named for the Spanish embassy to the Holy See that has overlooked it since the seventeenth century. It is the heart of Rome's luxury shopping district and the meeting point of four famous streets. At its centre sits the Barcaccia — the "sinking boat" fountain carved by Pietro Bernini and his father in 1629. Its odd shape is an engineering answer: water pressure here is weak, so the fountain was designed low, as a foundering boat, rather than with tall jets. Its water is drinkable — fill your bottle free, as Romans do. Via Condotti begins at the square: Italy's most famous shopping street, home to the great fashion houses and to Caffè Greco, open since 1760. In the corner beside the steps stands the house where the poet Keats died in 1821, now a small museum. The square is free and always open, and Spagna metro station on Line A opens directly onto it.
A marble boat foundering, carved in 1629 — its shape a fix for weak water pressure, its water drinkable.
Italy's most exclusive shopping street, with Caffè Greco trading since 1760 — worth the walk even just to look.
A small museum in the room where the poet died in 1821, looking straight onto the steps.
Piazza di Spagna, Rome
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