Spanish Steps historical timeline

A French bequest, a contested will, sixty dormant years and a competition whose winner was misattributed for two centuries.

Chronology

1. 15th century — Piazza di Spagna takes on a commercially very important role because of the many hotels and houses inhabited by foreigners, drawn by the Spanish and French government representations. Structural impact: the square becomes an international quarter before it has a staircase. What you see today: the two embassies that still name and flank the site.
2. 1495 — the church of Trinità dei Monti is founded at the top of the slope. Structural impact: a destination exists at the summit, with no decent way up to it. What you see today: the twin bell towers that close the view from the square.
3. 1580s — archival drawings show Pope Gregory XIII interested in building a stair to the recently completed facade of the French church, beginning generations of heated debate over how the steep 29-metre slope should be urbanized. Structural impact: none yet. What you see today: the problem the staircase solves.
4. 1598 — according to legend, the Tiber floods and carries a small boat into Piazza di Spagna, leaving it in the centre of the square when the water recedes. Structural impact: none — but it supplies the fountain's subject. What you see today: a stone boat where the real one is said to have grounded.
5. 1623–1629 — Urban VIII commissions Pietro Bernini to build a fountain, as part of a papal project to put one in every major piazza in Rome. Turismo Roma dates the Barcaccia 1626–29; the reference work says it was completed between 1627 and 1629, possibly with the help of Pietro's son Gian Lorenzo, especially after his father's death on 29 August 1629. Structural impact: the fountain is set below street level because the Acqua Vergine cannot push water higher. What you see today: the Barcaccia, and the reason it looks half-sunk.
6. 1660 — Étienne Gueffier, French diplomat to the Holy See, dies leaving part of his fortune for the construction of the stairs. Structural impact: the project is funded. What you see today: French money under a Spanish name.
7. 1661–1667 — Cardinal Mazarin entrusts the project to his agent in Rome, whose plan includes an equestrian monument of Louis XIV — an ambitious intrusion that creates a furore in papal Rome. Mazarin dies in 1661 and the pope in 1667, and Gueffier's will is successfully contested by a nephew who claims half. Structural impact: nothing is built, and the French king does not get his statue. What you see today: an empty summit in front of the church — the space the Louis XIV was meant to occupy.
8. Early 18th century — Pope Clement XI Albani renews interest in the dormant project. Structural impact: the scheme restarts after roughly fifty years. What you see today: the staircase as a papal work rather than a French monument.
9. 1717 — a competition is won by Francesco de Sanctis, though Alessandro Specchi was long thought to have produced the winning entry. Structural impact: the design that was built is de Sanctis's. What you see today: a staircase credited to the wrong architect for most of its life.
10. 1723–1726 — the Scalinata di Trinità dei Monti is built under Innocent XIII, directed by Francesco De Santis, as a scenographic link between the Pincio and the square — expressly to be a gathering place for all citizens. Structural impact: 135 steps in divided symmetrical flights up a 29-metre slope. What you see today: the staircase, and the purpose it is now fined for serving.
11. 1726 — de Sanctis's drawing is engraved by Girolamo Rossi with a long dedication to Louis XV. Structural impact: none. What you see today: whose monument this was understood to be.
12. Mid-18th century — writers Joseph de Lalande and Charles de Brosses note the steps are already in poor condition. Structural impact: the beginning of a restoration cycle that has not stopped. What you see today: stone that has been renewed repeatedly, including May to December 1995.
13. 1821 — John Keats dies in the house at the corner of the square, at the foot of the steps on the right. Structural impact: none. What you see today: a museum full of memorabilia of the English Romantic generation.
14. 2015–2016 — a Bulgari-sponsored renovation runs from 8 October 2015 to the reopening on 21 September 2016: almost 3,000 square metres of travertine, brick, marble and plaster, more than 80 people, EUR 1.5 million. Structural impact: the whole surface is cleaned and consolidated. What you see today: the pale stone you are standing on.
15. July 2019 — the administration of Mayor Virginia Raggi introduces ordinances allowing fines of EUR 250 for sitting on the steps and up to EUR 400 for dirtying or damaging them. Earlier bans on loitering and eating had not been enforced. Structural impact: none to the stone. What you see today: wardens, and a staircase built as a meeting place that you may not sit on.