Azaleas return to the Spanish Steps this spring.

Rome's Spanish Steps, the 18th-century staircase linking Piazza di Spagna with the church of Trinità de’ Monti, is once again decorated with hundreds of azalea plants.

The azaleas will remain in place for about a month - depending on the weather - and once the plants cease flowering they are returned to the city nurseries until next spring.

The time-honoured spring tradition, which was interrupted in 2020 during Italy's covid-19 lockdown, began at the start of the 1930s.

The original location for the infiorata was in Villa Aldobrandini park before the tradition became a permanent spring fixture at Piazza di Spagna in 1952.

The plants are cultivated in Rome’s nurseries at S. Sisto where azaleas have flourished for around a century.

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