Rome blog for Bed & Breakfast Chaplin Hostel

Spanish Steps in Rome

The Spanish Steps, or Scalinata di Spagna, connect the Spanish Square (Piazza di Spagna) in Rome with the Trinitá dei Monti church on the Pincio hill. It is one of Rome’s most popular places to hang out, especially for young tourists who turn it into an enormous international meeting place during the afternoons and evenings.

The Spanish Steps are at their most beautiful in May, when gigantic flowerpots full of azaleas decorate the terraces.

Why “Spanish” Steps?

One of the questions my guests at the Bed and Breakfast Chaplin Hostel Rome ask most often is why the Spanish Steps are called “Spanish”. The steps are named for the Spanish Square at the foot of the steps, which in its turn is called Spanish because the Spanish Embassy used to be located on it.

Description

At the foot of the steps lies the Fontana delle Barcaccia (1627-1629), desigend by Pietro Bernini, father of the better known Gianlorenzo. Legend has it that the fountain is built at the exact spot where a small boat was stranded after the Tiber flooded the area.

The Keats-Shelley Memorial can be found on the right hand corner at the foot of the steps.

Having climbed the 138 steps you will come to the Trinitá dei Monti church. Initially the French, whose idea it was to connect the church (which is French) with the square by means of the Spanish Steps, found their plans rejected, since the Pope did not like their idea of building a huge statue of Louis XIV at the top. It was not until 1723 the the architect Francisco de Sanctis came up with a design that found favor with both the Pope and the French.

Building the Spanish Steps took 3 years (1723- 1726) and was financed by the then French ambassador Etienne Gueffier.

The style is baroque.

No eating or drinking

It is not allowed to eat or drink at the Spanish Steps, a law which is hardly obeyed and even less enforced.

From the Chaplin B&B to the Spanish Steps

From Bed and Breakfast Chaplin Hostel Rome you take subway line A from Rome Termini and get off at Spagna (3 stops). Take the main exit and turn left.

MacDonald’s

An unexpected tourist attraction is the MacDonald’s situated on your right when you are facing the Spanish Steps. For a while it was apparently the branch which made the most money of all the MacDonalds’ in the entire world. There used to be lines, not only at the cash register, but also to get into the place. It is not that bad anymore, so if you have a couple of minutes to spare, walk up to the entrance, think of the MacDonald’s in your home town, walk in and compare. Then walk out and go eat some real food.

The Città dell’Altra Economia (The City of The Other Economy) in Rome is the first permanent market in Europe where there is only space for alternative economies and none at all for multinationals.

The Città is situated in the Roman quarter of Testaccio, on the Campo Boario of the ex-Mattatoio. The objects that are sold are characterized by the fact that they have been produced without harming nature or people.

The surface is immense, 3.500 square kilometers, more than half of which are covered. The style of the complex has been adapted to that of the surrounding buildings and electricity is completely obtained through the use of solar panels.

The entrance of the Città dell’Altra Economia is in Largo Dino Frisullo. From Hostel Chaplin Bed and Breakfast Rome you take the underground (line B) from Rome Termini to the stop Piramide.

Opening hours: Tue-Fri 10-21; Sat 10-23; Sun 11-19.

In 1982, when Alexanderplatz opened its doors the owner’s friends declared him to be completely off his rockers, a jazzcafé in Rome, and morevover in the quarter of Prati, nowhere near Rome’s most important nightlife areas, Trastevere and Testaccio.

Nowadays Alexanderplatz is Rome’s most famous jazzcafé, and artists like Chet Baker, Archie Shepp and Wynton Marsalis have palyed there. And just like the other, less weelknown muscicians who have played there they left their signatures on the walls of Alexanderplatz.

Giampiero Rubei named Alexanderplatz after the Berlin square. Rubei sees his creation as a meeting place and for him squares, and particularly the Berlin Alexanderplatz, are the ultimate meeting places.

Alexanderplatz celebrated its 25^th birthday on September 27th 2007.

From the Bed and Breakfast Chaplin Hostel Rome you take the metro line A to Ottaviano. Find the Via Barletta and turn right into Via Famagosta. After a couple of blocks this street will change names and become Via Ostia. Alexanderplatz can be found on #9.