Rome, Day 1: Piazza Mignanelli, Spanish Steps, and Caffè Greco

We headed to Spanish Steps after visiting Trevi Fountain, it's like taking Dolce Vita stroll backwards. 

Piazza Mignanelli is at the south east extension of Piazza di Spagna. In the middle of Piazza Mignanelli, there is a 19th century column named The Colonna dell' Immacolat or The Column of The Immaculate Conception. See the picture above, that's Virgin Mary at the top. At the base, the four statues are David, Isaiah, Ezekiel, and Moses. You know, they have a lot of monumental columns in Rome. If you use any one of them as a signpost, you will be confused as hell. The next few days, JJ kept pointing at other columns and insisted we were near Spanish Steps.

Spanish Steps, located in Piazza di Spagna, was also full of people. The church at the top of Spanish Steps, Trinità dei Monti, was under restoration as well. This seems to be the norm in Italy. I guess we just have to get used to it. It is purely by luck. You can't really plan your trip around it. You will always find something scaffolded. However, the ad on the church is utterly unnecessary.  Come on! I don't mind taking pictures of a covered monument. It's like documenting the process and it is the reality. But a fashion ad on a church, really? 

At the base of Piazza di Spagna is Fontana della Barcaccia ("Fountain of the Ugly Boat"). It was designed by Gian Lorenzo Bernini's father, Pietro Bernini. It looks more like a bathtub to me. I like it. It's very cute and whimsical. 

I couldn't bear looking at the giant ad, so I took a picture of Spanish Steps from far away. The fountain, which is not tall, was virtually covered by a sea of people. Even JJ couldn't get a good shot of the entire fountain. 

Caffè Greco is just a few steps away from Piazza di Spagna. If you love literature, you would probably be intrigued by the history of Caffè Greco. This was where those literature figures hung out such as Keats and Lord Byron. Yeah, that Lord Byron who contracted gonorrhea in Venice. No one could possibly make it up. Byron put his disease in his fancy writing. Still, that didn't make it sound poetic. Enough of that. Caffè Greco, opened in 1760, is the oldest bar in Rome and second oldest in Italy next to Caffè Florian in Venice.