Piazza di Spagna

Views almost unchanged since the Grand Tour

This high-ceilinged apartment is on the third floor of the Keats Shelley House, named after the two young poets who died in Italy in 1821 and 1822. It has captivating views from every window, unchanged since those days when the Piazza di Spagna was the favourite haunt of the British ‘milords’ on their Grand Tour. We have restored the apartment to how it was around 1821 when poet John Keats died of tuberculosis here on the floor below, today run as a museum by the Keats Shelley Memorial Association. The rooms are identical in form and layout. The sitting-room looks up the Spanish Steps – the world’s grandest and most sophisticated outdoor staircase - to the Baroque splendour of the church of S. Trinita dei Monti, framing a view of one the best-loved sites in Rome. Just outside the front door is a Bernini fountain, a stone boat rising from the cobbles of Piazza di Spagna.

The Spanish Steps

The Steps were designed in 1721 by Francesco de Sanctis, who also designed this house to fit in with his plan. From the apartment you have a grandstand view of the people watchers on the steps. There is hardly any motor traffic, but instead all the noises of humanity, some of them very unusual – for example when the steps are cleared by water-cannon, or when the horse-drawn cabs, which form a rank at the far end of the Piazza, arrive over the cobbles at the start of each day.

The price of the stay includes membership for the lead booker to the Friends of the Keats-Shelley Memorial Association. All guests staying in the apartment will be invited to visit the museum and take a tour led by one of the guides and to participate in any KSMA events held during their stay where possible.

One of the bodies the Association approached for help was the Manifold Trust, the grant-giving charity set up in 1962 by John Smith which has, among other things, been the main benefactor of the Landmark Trust.  John Smith suggested that in this case, the Landmark might be better placed to help.  Was there a part of the building that the Landmark could take on and let for experiences, in return for financial support, then and in the future?

It so happened that the flat on the third floor was about to become empty, on the retirement of the Curator, Signora Cacciatore. The Association could ill afford the renovation needed before the apartment could be re-let and so Landmark agreed to lease the flat and to pay for whatever repairs and improvements were necessary. The presence of Landmarkers continues the fine tradition of British travellers staying on the Spanish Steps.

Little was done to alter the original appearance of the flat, contrary to the suspicions of Roman neighbours, who repeatedly alerted the police to dreadful things happening in the 'Casa Rossa', prompting them to call to 'repress irregularities'.  The painted ceilings, which were flaking and stained in places by damp, were carefully restored by a very old and skilful craftsman, who also painted the trompe l'oeil panelling for the dados. 

 
In the hall, some existing hexagonal tiles were relaid, with new cotto floors elsewhere.  Finally, the flat was carefully furnished with Italian furniture, but with an eye to English comfort, rather in the manner of an Englishman who has lived all his life in Italy.