Spanish Steps the foundation of Rome, April 21, part of the steps are covered by pots of azaleas, up until early May. In modern times the Spanish Steps have included a small cut-flower market. The steps are not a place for eating lunch, being forbidden by Roman urban regulations, but they are usually crowded with people. The 1953 film "Roman Holiday", starring Audrey Hepburn and Gregory Peck, made the Spanish Steps famous to an American audience. The apartment that was the setting for "The Roman Spring of Mrs. Stone" (1961) is halfway up on the right. Bernardo Bertolucci's "Besieged" (1998) is also
Spanish Steps fleur-de-lys and Innocent XIII's eagle and crown are carefully balanced in the sculptural details. The solution is a gigantic inflation of some conventions of terraced garden stairs. The Spanish Steps, which Joseph de Lalande and Charles de Brosses noted were already in poor condition, have been restored several times, most recently in 1995. A new renovation commenced on October 8, 2015 and the steps reopened on September 21, 2016. In the Piazza di Spagna at the base is the Early Baroque fountain called "Fontana della Barcaccia" ("Fountain of the longboat"), built in 1627–29 and often credited to Pietro Bernini, father