You begin your climb from Rome’s Piazza d’Aracoeli between two Egyptian lions carved from black basalt. The staircase is composed of shallow, wide steps that seem to carry you effortlessly up the Capitoline Hill, and deposit you gently onto the pavement of the Piazza del Campidoglio, where you are welcomed by the twin sons of Leda: Castor and Pollux. These marble giants wear odd conical hats, said to represent shells of the eggs from which they hatched. You may recall that their father was Zeus, who visited Leda incognito as a swan.
The Cordonata staircase leading to the Campidoglio