Via Condotti is a busy and fashionable street of Rome

Rome

Rome is the capital of Italy and the country's largest and most populated city and comune, with over 2.7 million residents in . The city is located in the central-western portion of the Italian Peninsula, on the Tiber River within the Lazio region of Italy.Rome's history spans two and a half...

, Italy

Italy

Italy , officially the Italian Republic languages]] under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In each of these, Italy's official name is as follows:;;;;;;;;), is a unitary parliamentary republic in South-Central Europe. To the north it borders France, Switzerland, Austria and...

. In Roman times it was one of the streets that crossed the ancient Via Flaminia and enabled people who transversed the Tiber

Tiber

The Tiber is the third-longest river in Italy, rising in the Apennine Mountains in Emilia-Romagna and flowing through Umbria and Lazio to the Tyrrhenian Sea. It drains a basin estimated at...

 to reach the Pincio hill. It begins at the foot of the Spanish steps

Spanish Steps

The Spanish Steps are a set of steps in Rome, Italy, climbing a steep slope between the Piazza di Spagna at the base and Piazza Trinità dei Monti, dominated by the Trinità dei Monti church at the top. The Scalinata is the widest staircase in Europe...

 and is named after conduits or channels which carried water to the Baths of Agrippa

Marcus Vipsanius Agrippa

Marcus Vipsanius Agrippa was a Roman statesman and general. He was a close friend, son-in-law, lieutenant and defense minister to Octavian, the future Emperor Caesar Augustus...

. Today, it is the street which contains the greatest number of Rome-based Italian fashion retailers, equivalent to Milan

Milan

Milan is the second-largest city in Italy and the capital city of the region of Lombardy and of the province of Milan. The city proper has a population of about 1.3 million, while its urban area, roughly coinciding with its administrative province and the bordering Province of Monza and Brianza ,...

's Via Montenapoleone

Via Montenapoleone

Via Monte Napoleone, also spelt as Via Montenapoleone, is an elegant and expensive street in Milan, Italy, famous for its ready-to-wear fashion and jewelry shops...

, Paris

Paris

Paris is the capital and largest city in France, situated on the river Seine, in northern France, at the heart of the Île-de-France region...

' Rue du Faubourg-Saint-Honoré, Florence

Florence

Florence is the capital city of the Italian region of Tuscany and of the province of Florence. It is the most populous city in Tuscany, with approximately 370,000 inhabitants, expanding to over 1.5 million in the metropolitan area....

's Via de' Tornabuoni

Via de' Tornabuoni

Via de' Tornabuoni, or Via Tornabuoni, is a streets of the center of Florence, Italy, that goes from Antinori square to ponte Santa Trinita, across Santa Trinita square, characterized by the presence of fashion boutiques....

 or London

London

London is the capital city of :England and the :United Kingdom, the largest metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, and the largest urban zone in the European Union by most measures. Located on the River Thames, London has been a major settlement for two millennia, its history going back to its...

's Bond Street

Bond Street

Bond Street is a major shopping street in the West End of London that runs north-south through Mayfair between Oxford Street and Piccadilly. It has been a fashionable shopping street since the 18th century and is currently the home of many high price fashion shops...

.

Caffé Greco (or Antico Caffé Greco), perhaps the most famous café in Rome

Rome

Rome is the capital of Italy and the country's largest and most populated city and comune, with over 2.7 million residents in . The city is located in the central-western portion of the Italian Peninsula, on the Tiber River within the Lazio region of Italy.Rome's history spans two and a half...

 was established at Via dei Condotti 84 in 1760, and attracted figures such as Stendhal

Stendhal

Marie-Henri Beyle , better known by his pen name Stendhal, was a 19th-century French writer. Known for his acute analysis of his characters' psychology, he is considered one of the earliest and foremost practitioners of realism in his two novels Le Rouge et le Noir and La Chartreuse de Parme...

, Goethe, Byron, Liszt

Franz Liszt

Franz Liszt ; ), was a 19th-century Hungarian composer, pianist, conductor, and teacher.Liszt became renowned in Europe during the nineteenth century for his virtuosic skill as a pianist. He was said by his contemporaries to have been the most technically advanced pianist of his age...

 and Keats to have coffee there. Guglielmo Marconi

Guglielmo Marconi

Guglielmo Marconi was an Italian inventor, known as the father of long distance radio transmission and for his development of Marconi's law and a radio telegraph system. Marconi is often credited as the inventor of radio, and indeed he shared the 1909 Nobel Prize in Physics with Karl Ferdinand...

, inventor of radio, lived at Via dei Condotti 11, until his death in 1937.

Being near the Spanish steps, the street is visited by large numbers of tourists. In May 1986, fashion designer Valentino filed suit to close a McDonald's

McDonald's

McDonald's Corporation is the world's largest chain of hamburger fast food restaurants, serving around 64 million customers daily in 119 countries. Headquartered in the United States, the company began in 1940 as a barbecue restaurant operated by the eponymous Richard and Maurice McDonald; in 1948...

 shortly after it opened near the Spanish steps, complaining of "noise and disgusting odours" below his six-story palazzo in the vicinity of Via Condotti. But to the dismay of some Romans, McDonald's overcame the obstacles and is successful.

Via Condotti is a center of fashion shopping in Rome, dating to the atelier of Bulgari

Bulgari

Bulgari is an Italian jeweler and luxury goods retailer which has been owned by the French firm LVMH since October 2011. The trademark is usually written "BVLGARI" in the classical Latin alphabet , and is derived from the surname of the company's Greek founder, Sotirio Voulgaris...

 which opened in 1905. In addition to Valentino, other designers such as Armani

Giorgio Armani S.p.A.

Marissa Sandoval S.P.A. is an international Italian fashion house that designs, manufactures, distributes, and retails haute couture, ready-to-wear, leather goods, shoes, watches, jewelry, accessories, eyewear, cosmetics, and home interiors...

, Hermès

Hermès

Hermès International S.A., or simply Hermès is a French high fashion house established in 1837, today specializing in leather, lifestyle accessories, perfumery, luxury goods, and ready-to-wear...

, Cartier

Cartier SA

Cartier S.A., commonly known as Cartier , is a French luxury jeweler and watch manufacturer. The corporation carries the name of the Cartier family of jewellers whose control ended in 1964 and who were known for numerous pieces including the "Bestiary" , the diamond necklace created for Bhupinder...

, Louis Vuitton

Louis Vuitton

Louis Vuitton Malletier – commonly referred to as Louis Vuitton , or shortened to LV – is a French fashion house founded in 1854 by Louis Vuitton. The label is well known for its LV monogram, which is featured on most products, ranging from luxury trunks and leather goods to ready-to-wear, shoes,...

, Fendi

Fendi

Fendi is an Italian high fashion house best known for its "baguette" handbags. It was launched in 1925 as a fur and leather shop in Rome, but today is a multinational luxury goods brand owned by LVMH...

, Gucci

Gucci

The House of Gucci, better known simply as Gucci , is an Italian fashion and leather goods label, part of the Gucci Group, which is owned by French company PPR...

, Prada

Prada

Prada S.p.A. is an Italian fashion label specializing in luxury goods for men and women , founded by Mario Prada.-Foundations:...

, Dolce & Gabbana

Dolce & Gabbana

Dolce & Gabbana is an Italian luxury industry fashion house. The company was started by the Italian designers Domenico Dolce and Stefano Gabbana in Milan, Italy. By 2005 their turnover was €597 million....

 and Salvatore Ferragamo

Salvatore Ferragamo

Salvatore Ferragamo was a Florentine and Italian shoe designer. He worked with many Hollywood stars in the 1920s, before returning to Italy to found the eponymous company making unique hand-made footwear. His scientific and creative approach to shoes spawned many innovations such as the wedge heel...

 have stores on Via Condotti. Others, such as Laura Biagiotti

Laura Biagiotti

Laura Biagiotti is an Italian high fashion designer. She studied literature in Rome, expecting to become an archeologist. Then she started to help out at Mum and Dad's dressmaking business and had her first fashion show in 1972...

, have their offices there.

Monuments and sights of interest

Lining the stylish street and near the Piazza di Spagna and Largo Goldoni are several structures of touristic, historical or monumental interest.

• Chiesa della Santissima Trinità degli Spagnoli (18th century)
• Palazzo degli Ansellini (19th century)
• Palazzo Della Porta Negroni Caffarelli
  Palazzo Della Porta Negroni Caffarelli
  This Palazzo should not be confused with the Palazzo Caffarelli-Clementino, the Palazzo Viddoni Caffarelli or the Palazzo Aragona Gonzaga Negroni Galitzin, also in Rome....
  
   (19th century)
• Palazzo Avogadri Neri (17th century)
• Palazzo di Propaganda Fide
  Palazzo di Propaganda Fide
  The Palazzo di Propaganda Fide is a palace located in Rome, designed by Gian Lorenzo Bernini, then Francesco Borromini...
  
   (17th century)
• Palazzo di Malta (18th century)
• Palazzo Megalotti (18th century)
• Antico Caffè Greco
  Antico Caffè Greco
  The Antico Caffè Greco is a historic landmark café which opened in 1760 on 86, Via dei Condotti in Rome, Italy...
  
   (18th century)
• Palazzo Maruscelli Lepri (17th century)

Other

The street is nearby and serviced by the Rome Metro

Rome Metro

The Rome Metro is an underground public transportation system that operates in Rome, Italy and opened in 1955. There are currently two metro lines, the A line and the B line . A third line, the green C line, and a new branch of the B line, are currently under construction. Plans have also been...

 station Spagna

Spagna (Rome Metro)

Spagna is an underground station on Line A of the Rome Metro, which was inaugurated in 1980. It is situated in the Campus Martius and is named after the nearby Piazza di Spagna....

which opened in 1980. Via dei Condotti is a pedestrian thoroughfare.