The piazza is always crowded with tourists who sit on the steps or around Bernini's fountain of a boat (It is said that he had seen a boat in that place when the Tiber flooded Rome and decided to do a fountain in this shape).
I walked up the steps and saw the fabulous view. I decided not to eat at Cafe Greco, as it is so expensive nor at the Babington Tea Rooms (even more expensive).
The Spanish Steps
This square was built in 1538, and redesigned in 1823 (with an obelisk in the middle - as in all the important squares of Rome). This obleisc was brought by Augustus to Rome from Egypt, and was originally placed in the Circus Maximus.
The south side of the square has two churches which look like mirror images of each other, and on the north side is the church of ** Santa Maria del Popolo mentioned in Dan Brown's book �Angels and Demons� as the first clue.
This church was one of the first Renaissance churches build in Rome in 1472. The famous Chigi chaple was created by Rafael in 1513 who placed the pyramids there, and was completed by Bernini who added the statues. The church also holds two great paintings of Caravaggio.
From Piazza del Popolo I walked south Via di Ripetta to the Mausoleum of Augustus (nothing much left) and from there south Via del Corso to the Piazza Colonna and west to the Pantheon in the Piazza della Rotonda.
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