Michelle Barton was the first to arrive at Piazza della Trinità dei Monti. She glanced at the façade of a sixteenth-century church and a tall red granite obelisk patterned after an Egyptian one from the thirteenth century BC. Sallustiano Obelisk is a replica of the Flaminio Obelisk created for Egyptian Pharaoh Ramses II. Ramses the Great was in power from 1279 to 1213 BC. Roman Emperor Aurelian had the reproduction made during his reign from 270 to 275 AD. The obelisk at the top of the Spanish Steps is 45.6 feet tall yet reaches a height of 100 feet including the pedestal. Locals call this Trinità dei Monti Obelisk because it stands in front of a late sixteenth-century church of the same name.
