Are you in Rome? Would you like to know what to visit near to the Piazza di Spagna?
In this article you will find even more.
What and where to eat: the best restaurants near the Spanish Steps
This is a very touristic area, so be careful when you choose your restaurant, pizzeria, gelateria or bar. Here are few tips if you want to eat something at or around Piazza di Spagna. If you like Italian desserts, you have to stop at Pompi, the King of Tiramisù (Via della Croce 82). Pompi is certainly one of the best place where you can taste tiramisù in Rome. They have the classical flavor chocolate, biscuits dipped in coffee and mascarpone cream. Likewise strawberry, pistachio, hazelnut, banana and so on.
Iconic coffee houses
If you want to have a coffee you should go to Antico Caffè Greco, in Via Condotti. Since 1760 an historic landmark coffee house. This is the oldest café of Rome and a lot of historic figures. Stendhal, Goethe, Byron, Keats and Casanova, have had coffee sitting there. At the left corner of Spanish Steps there is the Babington’s tea room, founded in 1893.
Today it’s one of the most beloved places to visit. However there aren’t pubs or bars around so it’s not a nightlife area.
Restaurants around Spanish steps
One of the best restaurant of the area is Margutta RistorArte (Via Margutta 118). This is a very particular vegetarian restaurant where brunches and happy hours are organized during the weekend. Another amazing place is Imàgo, (Piazza Trinità dei Monti 6, inside the Hotel Hassler). The Imago is one of the best restaurant of the city center of Rome. Surely it’s quite expensive, since it’s a Michelin starred restaurant. If you like truffles you can try Tartufi&Friends (Via Borgognona 4/E). Try here the best risotto al tartufo of your life! If you are walking around and you feel a bit hungry but you don’t want to have dinner, you can do an aperitivo (happy hour). One of the fanciest is Zuma (Via della Fontanella Borghese), on top of the Fendi Building. Not only the building is amazing, but offers a breathtaking view from the terrace.
A little bit of history
Piazza di Spagna, at the bottom of the Spanish Steps, is one of the most famous squares in Rome. It owes its name to the Palazzo di Spagna, seat of the Embassy of Spain among the Holy See. Nearby is the famed Column of the Immaculate Conception of the Blessed in Virgin Mary. In the middle of the square is the famous Fontana della Barcaccia. Dating to the beginning of the baroque period, sculpted by Pietro Bernini and his son, the more famous Gian Lorenzo Bernini. At the right corner of the Spanish Steps rises the house of the English poet John Keats. The great poet lived there until his death in 1821: nowadays it has been changed into a museum. The museum displaying books and memorabilia of English romanticism, dedicated to Keats and his friend Percy Bysshe Shelley.
Luxury or window shopping: this is the road
If you want to go shopping, this is the definitely one of the best place to go shopping in Rome. Whether you’re interested in big brands like Dolce&Gabbana, Prada or Fendi, or others, here you will find everything. From Piazza di Spagna starts a street called Via Condotti, famous for the “big brand” shops, and Via Condotti crosses Via del Corso, popular casual shopping street.
When to go
The square and the steps are, obviously, opened every day and every night. However the best period to come and see it, it’s Spring time. In Summer it’s generally too crowded and hard enjoy the beauty of the square and of the amazing steps.
It’s actually quite beautiful to see it at night, when there are few people around and the shops are closed but the entire area is enlightened and everything is very romantic.
How to reach it
The best way to get to Piazza di Spagna is the subway. The entrance of the station is exactly at the right of the steps, so it’s very easy to find. Here arrives only the A line, the red one, so if you find yourself close to a stop of the blue line (B or B1). Then you can take that until Termini and there you can take the A line till Spagna.
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