Every time I visit Rome, I ask myself the same question: What's the ongoing appeal of the Spanish Steps neighborhood, unless shopping is the draw? Aside from the steps themselves and the fountain, the 'hood strikes me as toffee-nosed and generic, filled with overpriced hotels and boutiques and people who seem more interested in paying to be shielded from Italian culture than experiencing it -- unless you count the hordes of tour groups and the gypsy kids who prey on them. Yet it seems everyone craves accomodations there, and it's always high on everyone's "must experience" lists. What am I missing?

You aren't missing anything as your post lists things that exist in the 'hood. Obviously, your tastes and opinions differ as to the quality of the experience...viva la difference....

Neva. <BR> <BR>If you find out let me know - I've never quite understood what all the fuss is about either.

Hello Neva, I really thought that area was rather petentious and did not care for it as much as the rest of the city. To paraphrase David, differant strokes, no?

Piazza di Spagna has been the center of artistic and literary life of the city for centuries. It has also been the most cosmopolitan of Rome's quarters. One will not see any other place in Rome as filled with Romans and visitors, specially younger people. It's THE meeting point in Rome. One must agree that the sights available in the immediate vicinity can't be rated as highly as dozens of sites in Rome, though the Scalinata della Trinità dei Monti is unique (and the Trinità dei Monti church quite nice). Of course, it's not by chance that all designer atteliers are clustered in the area (mostly on Gregoriana), and that the fanciest shopping district, a number of famous caffes (Caffà Grecco, Babington's Tea rooms, etc) and fancy hotels (Hassler, de la Ville, Eden, Excelsior, etc) and restaurants (Hassler, George's, Le Sans Souci, etc) are also there. If one adds the convenient location to Piazza del Poppolo and the Borghese Gardens, to Piazza Navona and Pantheon, and to the Quirinale and Fontana di Trevi, one should understand why the area and immediate surroundings have the biggest offer of number of beds per square meter in Rome. There's no doubt that it's the CENTER OF THE ACTION in Rome. <BR> <BR>Paulo <BR>

I think it is much the same in Paris. The average first time visitor is looking for a hotel near the Eiffel Tower or near the Champs Elysees. Those are the two spots they know so they assume they are the best places to stay -- wrong in my opinion.

There is the convience of the metro by the spanish steps, and there are alot of busses that travel through that area. It is mearly convience in my book. However, I have stayed in two different areas in Rome, near the train station, and the spanish steps, and I prefered the train station, only for the fact that is was less pretentious. But if you are going to be with other people, sometimes it is easier to just say "Meet me at the spanish steps at noon!"

Arn't the Spanish steps in Madrid? <BR>

When I was a student, I used to stay in the Termini area. Going to the Spanish Steps in the early evening was then a must. It was there that the night program developped. Growing older, my preferred area to stay changed to around Campo dei Fiori, Piazza Navona and the Pantheon. Unfortunately, my wife (and my daughters) can't do without some daily windowshopping from about 6pm to store closing hours (we're bound to go in July because of work constraints, and that's a time of year when huge sales - up to 80% off - are on). After sightseeing, I would love to go the hotel, have a shower and relax a bit before going out for dinner (preferably in Trastevere). In the occasions we had our lodging in the Spanish Steps area, I felt very confortable being able to occasionally leave "my women" doing their stuff, while relaxing back in the hotel <BR> <BR>Though I certainly don't have a LOVE relation with the Spanish Steps, I really can't remember visiting Rome (since my student days) and not spending some time there just about every single day! It appears that in my case, for one reason or the other, I just don't seem able to avoid it. <BR> <BR>Paulo <BR>

Audrey Hepburn eating ice cream in Roman Holiday - the only thing that got me to go there. (there is a great view from the top of the steps, however)

My grandma used to tell me stories about how she and her friends would race up the steps. She travelled Europe as a young girl and through her teen years as a ballet dancer with an opera troupe. I know that playing on those steps was one of her fondest memories. When I saw the Spanish Steps for the first time I got all choked up, remembering those stories. The allure of any particular place is in the "feeling" that you get from it. Lots of things we go to see just to say we've seen them - to cross them off the "list". Personally speaking, I find my fondest memories are of those places which were not on the "list". The accidental discoveries, the wrong turns, the times we shut our eyes and stuck a finger on the map. See the "biggies" but save lots of time for the "littles"; in my book they are always better.

to the top for Victor.

Patrick..Please tell me..in your opinion, where is the best place to stay in Paris? It will be my first time there..Is it possible to be "in the heart" of everything?

Yes, Patrick, please tell us where you like to stay. On our first trip, we stayed in the 9th (arranged in a package with no choice). The second time, we stayed on the Ile St. Louis (4th) and loved it, but the room was a bit cramped. Last trip, we stayed in the 7th just two blocks from the tower and just loved the peaceful neighborhood. We're going back next month at staying at Place de la Concorde (8th). <BR> <BR>Sheila - it's very difficult for someone else to tell you where to stay, but I think I would have liked to stay in the 6th/St. Germain des Pres or in the 3rd or 4th/Marais on my first trip. ENJOY!

Sheila, you may get more responses if you post your own question, rather than jumping on Neva's spotlight.

I was delighted the first time I saw the Spanish Steps. We were staying in a small hotel a few streets away (The Cecil) and we came to the top of the stairs and into dazzling sunlight, with people everywhere and lovely potted flowers littered on the stairs, with the vista looking down to the fountain and the Roman scene in the street below with vespas whizzing by, chic boutiques, gorgeous old buildings lining the sides of the steps, including Babington's Tea Rooms and the pension where Keats stayed. Maybe I'm just a romantic, but they wove a spell on me.

thank goodness someone else asked this question. i was thinking that something about me was lacking in that i didn't get what the big deal was either. even the shopping seemed kind of generic to me. i think i would find most of what i saw there here at home.

Wow Sally, must be great where you live! We have very few of those shops at home, just Gucci and Prada - no Etro or those gorgeous homewares shops along Via del Babuino.

I went to Europe 25 years ago with three friends and we stayed at the Pension Sophia near the Spanish Steps. I think the pension is still there in some form or other. The two things that I remember are that we were planning several days away from Rome and wanted to stay at the same pension when we returned. When we made reservations and explained that very likely we would be returning late in the evening, they actually gave us a key to the building to take with us so we could let ourselves in upon our return. My other memory of the area is buying several meters of red silk in one of the shops nearby. I still have the dress I made from that silk. I can't speak for the area now, but I loved it then.