Spanish Steps

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The Spanish Steps in the DOS release of Mario is Missing!
The Spanish Steps in the DOS version of Mario is Missing!
“The Spanish Steps and the piazza (plaza) it encompasses were actually built with French, not Spanish, money. The steps and the plaza take their misleading names from the Spanish Embassy to the Vatican. Wide and comfortably curved, these twin staircases are famous for their popularity with sunbathers, skateboards and tourists. The famous poet, Keats, once lived nearby.”
Pamphlet, Mario is Missing!

The Spanish Steps (Italian: Scalinata di Trinità dei Monti) are a set of stairs in Rome near the Trinità dei Monti church and the Spanish Embassy to the Holy See (and not Vatican City as the pamphlet in Mario is Missing! says) that lends its name to the landmark.

History[edit]

Mario is Missing![edit]

The Spanish Steps appear as one of two landmarks in Rome, alongside the Pantheon, that are exclusive to the PC version of Mario is Missing! It is also one of the five locations within Rome that get attacked by Koopa Troopas; they take one of the two bannisters, causing the entire stairs to be closed. Luigi allows the steps to be reopened by grabbing back the bannister and returning it to its rightful place, although the clerk at the information booth verifies the Bannister's authenticity first by asking Luigi some questions. These include:

  • Watch your step, Luigi! How many stairs make up the Spanish Steps?
    • None, it's an escalator
    • 328
    • 3280
    • 238
  • From what did the Spanish Steps take their misleading name?
    • Cocker spaniels
    • The Spanish Civil War
    • The Spanish Embassy

Although the pamphlet says that the staircase was paid with French money, this is incorrect. The money was left by French diplomat Étienne Gueffier in his will, but it was in scudi, a deprecated Italian coin.[1]

Mario Kart series[edit]

The Spanish Steps appear as one of the landmarks in the Rome Avanti 2 course in Mario Kart Tour, in which a portion of the track has players drive through the steps. Rome Avanti also appears in Mario Kart 8 Deluxe as part of the Booster Course Pass DLC, once again featuring the Spanish Steps.

Media[edit]

Video.svg Video - Live-action footage of the Spanish Steps in the Deluxe version of Mario is Missing!
File infoMedia:Spanish Steps MIMDX.ogv
0:08
Help:MediaHaving trouble playing?

References[edit]

  1. ^ Elling, Christian. Rome: The Biography of Her Architecture from Bernini to Thorvaldsen, illustrated ed., Westview Press, 1975, p. 328. Google Books, books.google.ca/books?id=rOxPAAAAMAAJ.