Spanish Steps - Rome, Italy

The Spanish Steps is a monumental stairway of 138 steps, climbing a steep slope between the Piazza di Spagna at the base and Piazza Trinità dei Monti, dominated by Trinità dei Monti, the church that was under the patronage of the Bourbon kings of France above. The Scalinata is "without a doubt the longest and widest staircase in all Europe". During May, part of the steps are covered by pots of azaleas. In the Piazza at the base is the Early Baroque fountain called "Fontana della Barcaccia" (Fountain of the Old Boat), built in 1627-29 and often credited to Pietro Bernini, father of a more famous son, Gian Lorenzo Bernini, who is recently said to have collaborated on the decoration. According to an unlikely legend, Pope Urban VIII had the fountain installed after he had been impressed by a boat brought here by a flood of the Tiber river.