Piazza di Spagna and Keats-Shelley Memorial House

The Piazza di Spagna district is little changed from 18th-century prints depicting the area - and is still dominated by the elegant sweeping staircase known as the Spanish Steps. These were designed in 1723-26 by Francesco de Sanctis to link Via del Babuino with Via Felice - the first great street planned by Sixtus V (1585-90). Reminiscent of the grand ascent to the Sacré Coeur in Paris, the steps lead up to the 16th-century Trinità dei Monti. From here, spectacular views over the city rooftops more than warrant the steep climb. The Spanish Steps acquired their name from the neighbouring Spanish embassy but the area is more intimately associated with England - even becoming known to the rather provincial Romans as er ghetto de l'Inglesi (English Ghetto, in Roman dialect). The tourists on the Grand Tour of the 18th and 19th centuries (including Keats, Shelley, Byron and the Brownings) helped establish the district's reputation as a cosmopolitan artistic quarter. At the foot of the steps lies the boat-shaped Barcaccia Fountain, designed in 1627 by Pietro Bernini, father of the more famous Gian Lorenzo. To the right stands the modest Keats-Shelley Memorial House, in the building where 25-year-old John Keats died of tuberculosis in 1821. Exhibits include pictures and prints, private letters, an urn bearing Shelley's ashes and a lock of Keats' tawny red hair.