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".
The piazza is shaped like a butterfly, whose triangular wings meet at the bottom of the steps. The French have always dominated the triangle which includes the Spanish Steps and the Church Trinita' de' Monti, whereas the Spaniards dominated the other triangle with the Piazza and the Palazzo di Spagna, today's Spanish Embassy to the Holy See.
The decision by Spanish Ambassadors to reside in this area goes back to 1620 when a pre-existing building was purchased and Antonio del Grande with the collaboration of Borromini, made the necessary changes. Spanish influence in the whole area was immediately noticeable: the Spanish Nation not only enjoyed full jurisdiction over its own property but also the 14,000 residents that were soon placed under its protection.
In 1854, after the proclamation of the dogma of the Immaculate Conception, Pope Pius IX had the column of Mary Immaculate erected in front of the Embassy.
Via del Babuino ends with the Fontana della Barcacci, that forms the heart of the irregularly-shaped Piazza di Spagna. Pietro Bernini, father of the more famous Gian Lorenzo Bernini, designed this fountain located right at the bottom of the Spanish Steps leading up to the French Church, Trinita' de' Monti.
For years, many people had wanted to link the church up with the piazza, but the Popes were always unwilling to give too much emphasis to the strong presence of the French in Rome. However, the project could no longer be put off when, in the 18th century, the whole area was influenced by the redevelopment of the port area on the banks of the Tiber, the Porto di Ripetta.
The young architect Francesco De Sanctis was commissioned to do the work, because he was liked by both the Pope and the French. De Sanctis conceived of a spectacular theatrical link between the church and the piazza-- stairs that rain down like a great travertine cascade, flowing towards the Fountain, Via dei Condotti, and the port beyond.
The final section of the stairway is constricted by two buildings: seen from the bottom of the steps, the home of the English poets Keats and Shelley is on the right while Babington's Tea Room is on the left, the earliest tearoom in Rome, opened by two English sisters.

This building houses since 1626 the congregation established by Gregory XV in 1622. The palace is Vatican property and enjoy the privilege of extra-territoriality, and was rebuilt, first by Bernini and later, in 1646 by Borromini. The building includes the little Re Magi church by Borromini.

The Villa Medici, Rome is located on the Pincian Hill at the top of the Spanish Steps. Since the end of the Roman Republic the Pincian Hill has been famous for its ornamental gardens. The villa occupies part of the site that once boasted the gardens of Lucullus and later the Acilii. In 1543, Cardinal Crescenzi purchased the villa, during which time it consisted mostly of vineyards. In 1564, his heirs sold the villa to Cardinal Giovanni Ricci di Montpulciano who did much to develop the gardens and increase the water supply. He hired Nanni di Baccio Bigio, to carry out the major portion of this project until Ricci’s death in 1568, at which time it is probable (though not documented) that Nanni's son Annibale Lippi completed the work by 1569. Cardinal Ferdinando de Medici bought the villa in 1576, turning it into one of the most lavish villa in Rome with the assistance of his architect Bartolomeo Ammannati. In keeping with its more public function, the front of the villa is very formal and has often been compared to a fortress. The garden facade of the villa, however, is much less formal and highly ornamented and may have been redesigned by Giacomo della Porta to accommodate the sculpture collection purchased by Medici in 1578. The French purchased the villa directly from the Tuscan state in 1801 and it has been home to the French Academy since 1803.

The first church here was built in the 12th century. The site was at that time on the edge of the city, explaining its appellation.
It was probably rebuilt in the 15th century, and became the Scottish national church. After the Reformation, it was given to the Order of Minims, who still serve it.
It was rebuilt again from 1612, partly by Borromini who was commissioned by the Marchese Paolo del Bufalo to work on the church in the years 1653-1665.
The bell-tower and dome are the work of Borromini, completed 1653. They can best be seen from Via Capo le Case.
The cloister has a nice garden with orange trees and cypresses.
In one of the chapels, the French Jew Alphonse Ratisbonne is said to have received an apparition of the Blessed Virgin on January 20th 1842. He immediately converted and later founded the Congregation of Our Lady of Sion, an order working to convert Jews.
In the second chapel on the right is the tomb of Judith Falconnet (died 1856), with a sculpture by Harriet Hosmer.
The epitaph of the Swiss Neo-classical painter Angelica Kaufmann (1741-1807), a central figure among the foreign artists in Rome, can be seen to the left of the side door.
The apse and dome, except the three large paintings in the apse, were decorated by by Pasquale Marini in the 17th century. The large paintings in the apse depict the Crucifixion, the Martyrdom of St Andrew and Christ feeding the multitudes. They were made by Giovanni Battista Lenardi, Lazarro Baldi and Francesco Trevisani.
Two marble angels made by Bernini for the Ponte Sant'Angelo are kept here, near the high altar. They are the only angels for that project that were made by him; the ones on the bridge were made by his pupils. As the angels on the bridge, they carry symbols of Our Lord's Passion, the scroll and the Crown of Thorns.

The Ara Pacis Augustae (Latin for "Altar of Augustan Peace", and commonly shortened to Ara Pacis) is an altar to Peace, envisioned as a Roman goddess. It was commissioned by (or for) the Roman emperor Augustus, consecrated on 30 January 9 BC and decreed by the Senate to to commemorate Augustus victories over Spain and Gaul. It had earlier been dedicated on 4 July 13 BC. The altar was meant to be a vision of the Roman civil religion. It sought to portray the peace and prosperity enjoyed as a result of the Pax Romana ("Roman peace") brought about by the military supremacy of the Roman empire.
The Ara Pacis was elaborately and finely sculpted entirely in gleaming white marble, depicting scenes of traditional Roman piety, in which the Emperor and his family were portrayed in the act of offering sacrifices to the gods. Various figures bring forth cattle to be sacrificed. Some have their togas drawn over their heads, like a hood; this signifies that they are acting in their official capacity. Others wear laurel crowns, traditional symbols of victory. Men, women, and children all approach the gods.
The Altar is considered a masterpiece of Roman sculpture; the figures in the procession are not idealised types, as are typically found in Greek sculpture, but are instead recognizable portraits of individuals.
As it stands today, the Ara is a combination of original fragments found on the original site and kept in Rome, and of plaster casts of original fragments now in foreign museums, including the Louvre in Paris.
The Altar was originally located on the Campus Martius. Benito Mussolini built a protective building for the Altar by the Mausoleum of Augustus (moving the Altar in the process) as part of his attempt to create an ancient Roman "theme park" as an example of Fascist Italy.
There is now a new cover building on the same site as Mussolini's. Designed by modern American architect Richard Meier, the new building is somewhat controversial.

Even before he became Emperor and took the name Caesar Augustus, Octavian decided on the construction of a dynastic tomb. This was in 29 BC, immediately after the conquest of Egypt and the elimination of his strongest enemy, Mark Anthony. Octavian's policies had a Hellenistic bent right from the beginning and this mausoleum provided a confirmation: he chose to model his dynastic tomb on the most famous sovereign's tomb of the age, the tomb of King Mausolus.
This monument, devastated by centuries of sacking and pillaging, was finally "liberated" by the 1936 excavations, but it was difficult to understand how it was actually constructed. It was circular building of seven concentric masonry rings each connected with the other by radial walls and superimposed on a travertine basement 12 meters high. In front of the entrance, there were two pillars holding bronze plates on which was inscribed the official biography of the Emperor.
This is the same biography that has been found on other important buildings scattered throughout the provinces of the Empire and it was also written on the side of the building that, until recently, housed the Ara Pacis.
The two obelisks that decorated the mausoleum entrance were brought to Rome from Egypt. They were later moved and re-erected, one in Piazza del Quirinale and the other in Piazza dell' Esquilino

Porta del Popolo was the ancient Porta Flaminia of the Aurelian Walls through which, until the end of the 19th century, all travelers from the north entered Rome. The remodeling of the exterior by Michelangelo and of the interior by Bernini removed every trace of this ancient gateway to Rome.
Nor is there any trace left of the greenery that, until the end of the 15th century, greeted the traveler who came through the gate. The vegetable gardens and parks were swallowed up in progressive phases of urbanization during the following centuries and even more so after the rearrangement of the Porto di Ripetta, the nearby port along the river.
At the end of the 16th century, Pope Sixtus V began the most important of the Renaissance's urban plans-- from the obelisk he had erected in this piazza, three streets known as the Trident radiated off. This was the first obelisk to be brought to Rome from Egypt and it dates from the 13th century BC. From the time of the Emperor Augustus until its relocation, it had decorated the spine of the Circus Maximus.
After 3 centuries of structural alterations, the area inside Porta del Popolo has remained unchanged since the beginning of the 19th century. The architect Giuseppe Valadier was commissioned to design what was to be the last great achievement of Papal Rome. His work manages to synthesize all the previous work and gives life to a wonderful integration of architecture and natural landscape.

There is a legend telling how, in 1099, a small chapel dedicated to Our Lady was built here near Nero's tomb in order to keep the ghost of that terrible emperor at bay. In reality, however, Santa Maria del Popolo was constructed during the Crusades with public money to thank the Virgin for interceding when the Holy Sepulcher was liberated.
The church, managed by the Augustinian order since the end of the 15th century, was completely reconstructed using architectural canons of such rigorous simplicity and harmony that it is considered today one of the most important works of the Renaissance. Behind its plain façade, the interior is enriched with a choir made by Bramante and an extraordinary chapel, the Capella Chigi, one of Raphael's most important architectonic works.
You will find it worthwhile to go down the nave and look into the left hand transept inside the Cappella Cerasi where there are two exceptional masterpieces by Caravaggio: the Conversion of St. Paul and the Crucifixion of St. Peter. Although constrained by the narrowness of the chapel, the great master was nevertheless able to play with the space available and breathe life into the two paintings.
Rebellious and non-conforming as he always was, in the Conversion of St. Paul, Caravaggio utilized the figure of the horse as the main descriptive element in the composition, rendering the Saint less important. In the Crucifixion of St. Peter, the diagonal line which he created by the positioning of the cross demands the viewer to become involved in the painting.

The Pincian Hill is to the north of the Quirinal Hill, overlooking the Campus Martius. The Pincian was mostly gardens, and was referred to as the Collis Hortolorum, the hill of gardens. There is still a park today with a beautiful view over the Piazza del Popolo.