The Steps (called by the Italians Scalinata della Trinità dei Monti) were built in 1721-25 by Francesco de Sanctis to link the Piazza with the church of Trinità dei Monti. The curved lines of the Spanish Steps recall Porto di Ripetta built in 1704 by Alessandro Specchi.
Costs were born by France (a donation had been made in 1655 by a French gentleman) to which the church belonged and the piers and the globes at the beginning of the steps have the fleurs-de-lis of the Bourbon family together with the chequered eagle of Pope Innocentius XIII. John Keats lived and died in the pink house to the right of the steps.