Spanish Steps Reopening Ceremony

Spanish Steps finally open again

As noted in yesterday’s post, Brad and I had reservations tonight at the aptly named restaurant Cucina & Vista that overlooks the Spanish Steps. The expected re-opening ceremony didn’t disappoint, with dancers and a light show ending with fireworks while a symphony orchestra played Toreador from Bizet’s Carmen (see Brad’s video at the end of the post).

Dirty steps before ... 

We took a taxi to the restaurant and waited in a short security line, with the typical Italian police, friendly but toting semi-automatic rifles. (You definitely can’t take photos of these guys!) We noticed later, that after the ceremony started they stopped letting people into the area at the base of the steps—there were a lot of people back there, attracted by the music, I expect!

The pretty, modern room was more crowded than last night, with a sense of expectation (photos from restaurant website). 

 

Our table, in the middle under mirror ...

Across from us was a table of Italians: two formally-suited, bearded young men complete with three-pointed pocket squares; a lovely young woman with curly auburn hair and a beautiful flower-patterned jacket over jeans and sandals; a tall hipster of African heritage in jean jacket and high tops; and a kind of nerdy young man in a polo shirt. To our right was a couple from Connecticut. On our left, a mother and daughter, Russian by heritage (apparently their forebears made it out of Moscow in 1917, just ahead of the Bolsheviks) but born in Brussels and now living, respectively, in Santa Barbara, California and Madrid.

As our dinner arrived (pasta con vongole for me and bistecca con patate for Brad), the ceremony started up outside. Everyone rushed to the two small windows to see and take their videos (defeating the purpose of our reservation, I guess, especially since I wasn’t in a position to hop up with everyone else). I had a pretty good view from where I sat, though, and the other diners were quite gracious, moving aside to let me see too. (Actually, I’ve been really impressed by how accommodating and solicitous Romans, and even tourists, on the streets have been of me and my hobbling.)

 

A lunch time shot of our little window on the Spanish Steps  ... 

This screenshot gives a better idea of the spectacle (from a forbes article):

 

Photo by Elisabetta Villa/Getty Images for BVLGARI

The nerdy man was excited when Virginia Raggi—the young but embattled new mayor of Rome—started speaking just before the show started. (He confirmed for Brad that it was her.) Among other things, she opposed the suggestion from the Bulgari jewelry house—which funded the almost $1.7 million restoration—to fence the stairs at night against barbarian tourists who sleep and eat and drink on it, saying "It's fundamental to let people use cultural heritage sites.”

Everyone became friendly during and after the show, and we talked for a long time afterward with Kristal and Ludmilla. I was like an excited child when we got home at midnight—didn’t get to sleep until after 2 am.

                  

Not the same as being here, but Brad’s video follows (uploading to YouTube first made it darker and we looked down on the far right of the steps with the big screen TV and its large scaffolding blocking the view, but hope you get the picture well enough). How appropriate, at the fireworks finale, to hear (1) Toreador from Carmen, the opera set in Spain (the staircase is named for Piazza di Spagna at bottom) (2) by the French composer Georges Bizet (the French Bourbon court was the patron of the church at top) (3) played by the Roman Orchestra dell’Accademia Nazionale di Santa Cecilia (founded in 1908 and conducted by some of the major musical figures of the 20th century, including Mahler, Debussy, Strauss, Stravinsky, and Toscanini)!