About Spanish Steps
Built between 1723 and 1725, the staircase climbs 135 steps and 29 meters to the church of Trinità dei Monti, in flights and curves that make the climb seem shorter than it is. Down below, the Fontana della Barcaccia is shaped like a half-sunken boat, and legend says Pope Urban VIII commissioned it after a Tiber flood left a boat in the square.
In the corner house, on the right as you climb, the English poet John Keats lived and died in 1821; today the place is a museum dedicated to him. One rule catches many people by surprise: sitting or eating on the steps can earn you a fine.
