This is, of course, the Spanish Steps, designed by the architects Francesco de Sanctis and Alessandro Specchi. In Italian they're called Scalinata di Trinità dei Monti meaning the steps to the church Trinità dei Monti. The building of the 174 steps were funded by the French diplomat Étienne Gueffier between 1723-1725, linking the Spanish embassy to the church, that was under the patronage of the Bourbon French kings at the time. They have been sung about in many songs, and they have appeared in both tv-series and movies, and no wonder - it's a beautiful place. They had even put a bunch of flowerpots in the middle of them when we were there to make them look even lovelier.
As you can see, we visited the steps on two different occasions - I had the wrong lens (too heavy zoom) with me the first time and the lighting wasn't entirely to my satisfaction either, so, since the place was not far from where we stayed, we popped by a second time to snap a few quick pictures. I much prefer the lighting in the pictures to the right (that were taken on that second visit) to the one on the left. The blue sky was lovely but not as interesting as the cloudy drama in the other shots that were taken later in the day when the stairs were sunny - if you go too early they will be shaded by the surrounding buildings. That's the stuff you figure out as you explore a city. It's a good thing to think about which direction the sites are facing and when the best time to shoot them should be.
/MrsHjort
I like the middle one best (makes me think of a people version of "the crookedest street in the world"}. :-)
ReplyDeleteMe too. Thank you :)
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