Piazza di Spagna
The irregular form of Rome “Piazza di Spagna” opens itself in front of the hill of the Pincio, at the footsteps of the stairs of the “Trinità dei Monti” (Trinity of the Mounts) and it is an ideal departure point for the famous and fashionable Via Condotti.
The actual form of the entire area starts to define itself at the beginning of the 16th century when it is decided to change, on the project of Carlo Maderno, the construction of the Franciscan church of the Trinity of the Mounts, then consecrated by Sisto V in 1587 after Christ.
Since there were not the necessary funds to realise the stairs, guaranteed by a testament legacy dating from 1660 of the French diplomat Stefano Gueffier, and since the diatribes on the ownership of the land were not resolved, the connection between the top of the hill and Piazza di Spagna was made of two pathways going down through the trees.
The stairs of the Trinity of the Mounts is realised only between 1723 and 1726 after Christ, by Francesco De Sanctis, as a series of stairs and terraces, never linked to any form of spatial symmetry and in a non-ending scenographic movement thanks to the use of straight paths, curves and polygonal. The square where located the college of the Jesuits of the “Propaganda Fide” since 1662 after Christ, last work of Borromini, and the column of the Immaculate dating from the 19th century, takes the name of “Piazza di Spagna” during the 17th century, when the entire area becomes considered as a territory part of the Spanish Embassy. At the footsteps of the stairs of the Trinity of the Mounts, Pietro Bernini, father of the more famous Gianlorenzo, because of the effect of the low pressure of the water supply system in the area, chooses to realise a fountain without jets that makes the water flow off from the forms of a sunk boat; he therefore sculptures what is retained, rightly, one of the most particular fountains of the entire Rome: the “Fountain of the Barcaccia”.
