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Map of the area

Via bocca di leone
The street is in the immediate surroundings of Spanish Steps, where carriages carrying strangers from up North used to stop and stay already in antiquity. Via Bocca di Leone developed as an auxiliary pathway to the Square: hotels, workshops, repair shops for carriages and all sorts of inns used to populate its sides, although no trace of them is left behind today. It was here that in 1848 Vincenzo Gioberti wrote his famous letter to the Romans and here Pope Pius IX came seven years later to pay a visit to His Majesty don Pedro, King of Portugal. Again in September 1848 Edoardo Fabbri handed the Premiership onto Pellegrino Rossi. The most important building in the street is the Palace of the Torlonia Princes.
The Palace was built in 1660 by G.B. de Rossi, at the service of Marquis Francesco Nunez-Sanchez, and its interiors were embellished during the 19th century by Sarti. This is the palace where death came upon don Leopoldo Torlonia, mayor of Rome dismissed by Francesco Crispi for having congratulated Pope Leo XIII on behalf of the Romans on the occasion of the sacerdotal jubilee of 1887. For a short period, the clearing in front of the palace was called Piazza Torlonia. In front of the palace lies a fountain built in 1842 according to the drawings of Architect Antonio Sarti. It is made of a big Roman sarcophagus, with elegant bas-relief carvings depicting young women and fauns symmetrically ordered around a central medallion portraying a togate man.?A fountain spout pours fan-shaped water than finally streams away through two taps inserted in the basis of the sarcophagus, raised on lion paws, and collects in a semicircular marble basin that is shielded by small columns. The fountain is part of an architectural front flanked by parastades and topped by an arch bearing the coat of arms of the Torlonia family in-between rampant lions: beneath the arch, a plaque reminds us that the fountain was built under the supervision and the financial support of the Duke don Marino Torlonia on his own property.
Today many of these Palazzi are luxurious and comfortable as the INTOWN Luxury House, in Via Bocca di Leone 7. The street is a small world of its own, with high-quality brands such as Paciotti and Yves Saint Laurent, Valentino or Versace. A stay in Rome, in one of these Palazzi, leaves an indelible trace in your memory. To dwell for even a short leisure time in and an age-old residence in a historical Palazzo is indeed one of the best ways to understand the greatness of a city that has no equal.
The streets of the centre of Rome offer an unmatched concentration of shop windows that make it the unchallenged capital of fashion, luxury and style. The windows in Via dei Condotti are among the most famous in the world, and the Gotha of the fashion industry has a true and proper stronghold in the area that is nowadays a must for the most extreme shopping experience.?In the set of the central streets of the Eternal City, all around Spanish Steps, dresses from the global catwalks are shown as in a fashion museum, together with precious hand-made jewels that are miniature works of art. A vacation or a stay in Rome, where everything generates awe and amazement, can never be just another event. And fashion and jewels contribute to the glittering name of Rome throughout the world. Nothing is better than a room in one of the splendid Palazzi of Rome to enjoy at the fullest the beauties that only the Eternal City can offer.
Shopping streets in Rome
Shopping is possibly one of the delights of everyday life, and Rome is tantalizing under this respect. The area of the Eternal City where you will find most shops is the three parallel streets that end in Via del Corso and start in Spanish Steps, i.e. Via Condotti, Via Borgognona and Via Frattina. Among these, the most famous is beyond any doubt Via Condotti, that owes its name to the pipes ("condotti") that brought the waters up to the Terme di Agrippa. Today it is one of the finest streets in the world, where the luxurious shops of the finest brands are to be found: Bulgari, who opened their first atelier here in 1905, Hermés, Cartier, Ferragamo, Battistoni, a historical Roman tailor who was the favourite of the Duke of Windsor.
Via Borgognona is the home, among others, of Ferré, Fendi, Laura Biagiotti, The Queen of Kashmere and Gai Mattiolo, a young Italian stylist who recently made his way to the Mount Olympus of fashion. Last but not least, Via Frattina hosts Tiffany, Versace, Byblos. But almost every corner and alley is home to a show room: Giorgio Armani, Battistoni, Blunauta, Burberry, Celine, Dior, Dolce e Gabbana, Salvatore Ferragamo, Alberta Ferretti, Fornarina, Furla, Gucci, Hermes, La Perla, Prada, Trussardi, Valentino, Federico Buccellati, Bulgari, Cartier, Bally, Alberto Bolaffi, Gianni Bravo, Bulgari, Jimmy Choo, Modigliani, Mont Blanc, Swatch, Testoni, Tod's, Louis Vuitton. You will find them all there, around Spanish Steps.
Also the Roman craft enjoys a worldwide renown: the old-fashioned carpenters and the best restorers still gather in Via dei Cappellari. Via dei Sediari has a century-long tradition for wicker chairs, armchairs and other furnishings. The craftsmen who specialize in wrought iron can be found in Via degli Orsini. Vases and other pottery are on sale in via Santa Dorotea. Via dei Gigli d'oro is where you can find reproductions of ancient mosaics. And if you are looking for Antiquarians, then you should walk Via dei Coronari, Via Giulia, Via Margutta, Via del Babuino and Via del Pellegrino.